As I examine my life today, and look forward to the transitions that will occur in the days and weeks ahead it feels as if I am caught right smack in the middle of two familiar biblical themes. The first comes from the writer of Ecclesiastes when he says,
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? Ecclesiastes 1:9-10
What has been done will be done again…we have packed our home into boxes before, we will do it again. We have loaded a moving van before…we will do it again. We have moved into a community knowing very few people before…we will do it again. We will make new friends, start new ministries, find new jobs, shape a new life in a new part of the world…nothing new under the sun.
And yet the writer of Isaiah says,
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19
Forget everything you know…I am doing a new thing! You may think you know your way through what is to come but if you would simply trust in me you would be surprised at where I take you…at what you will experience. This is something new, you have never seen or even dreamed about what I am up to today. Are you willing to fully trust, to believe that I want nothing but the very best for you? Forget what you know, do not dwell on the past…my Spirit goes before you making “a way for you in the wilderness.”
