December 31, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

‘For your sake, I will send to Babylon and bring them all as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, and your King. Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old. Behold, I AM [is] about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?’” (Isaiah 43.14-15, 18)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Here we are on the precipice of a “new year.” I say precipice because that image should cause us to see that we should understand the call to trust in the Lord for our next step into the unknown. What is the alternative? The alternative is two-fold: fear and failure. Both of those alternatives carry with them a “look to the past.”

We are captured in fear because of the strangely familiar and of the unknown. These are signs of our desire to look to the past. I wonder how long Adam and Eve stood looking at the gate of the Garden from which they were ousted? It was guarded by an unrelenting and fearsome angel. In spite of all the knowledge they had gained by “eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” they had no real clue as to what to do next. In trust, if God had not instructed them about their future life, they would have been no more than animal-like relying on instinct alone. To Adam, God said that he would “toil in the soil.” We hear this directive based on the very sense of creation which God had used to create him. Adam was formed from the soil of the earth. He was like clay in God’s hands to be molded, shaped and formed. Then God “informed” the creation on how to live. He did this by breathing into him His very own Spirit. It was as if God was saying to the work of His hands, “Live!” Now Adam would have to do the same by forming and shaping and molding a life out of the soil of the earth. He would water it with the sweat of his brow. He would speak to it of life. He would no doubt pray to God for a bountiful harvest. After all, what did Adam know of farming. Further, what did Adam know of how it related to salvation. The substance of Adam’s life was works. The essence of his life was sacrificial love as he had learned from God.

What of Eve? God’s directive spoke as much about her past experience which was given the opportunity to receive a new one. In that very same story of creation which brought Adam from the soil of the earth, Eve was brought out of Adam. We might consider this: woman was delivered out of man. Her story was, in and of itself, a “birth narrative.” She drew her life from Adam in a truly intended symbiotic relationship. They were to be a community of faith, hope and love. And yet, in spite of their undiscovered differences, they had at least one thing in common: freewill. This was, of course, because choice had to be a critical element in defining and deciding who they, Adam and Eve, would be in the Garden. Now that same decision would have to be made outside of the Garden. All she had to go on was the word of God which declared: I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. Her future was shaped by her past in that it spoke of a future life. She was the future for Adam in the Garden providing companionship and love. She was the future of humanity in bringing forth generations to come. With those generations would come intense pain; not just physically but mentally, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. This was the substance of her life, her “works.” Her essence, however, would be the same as Adam’s: sacrificial love. She would experience it in the first murder as Cain murdered his brother, her son, Abel. She would experience sacrifice as Cain was sent to a far country and again she would enter the creative process and bring forth a new son- Seth.

It is obvious to see how Adam and Eve’s responses would be filled with fear. They knew of fear after their acts of disobedience. What they then experienced was failure. Because they disobeyed God’s command and they ate of the forbidden tree, they hid themselves in the low-hanging branches of the sycamore tree. They used its broad leaves to cover their shame from one another in innocence lost and from God in guilt found. The fruit of the tree did not provide them all knowledge. It certainly did not provide them with wisdom. They would have to learn that by experience. It was experience first gained in the Garden as the consequence of their disobedience was revealed. It would be a difficult journey into wisdom for them both and for those whom they brought into the world. We see the failure of such teaching as it seemed Cain was not wise enough to discern the lessons which brought his family “into the world.” Now as Adam and Eve faced their past to which they could never return as if longing “for those good old days,” there was only one option given to them. That option was to move forward as creatures far different and thus new than they were before. Now their steps would be guided by that same sense of fear and trepidation called failure. Would they do it again? What would happen if they did it again? Where else could they go? Was there something more harsh and painful than living in the world? And even with the knowledge of God’s sacrificial love which was exampled to them by His covering of their shame with the blood of the lamb and its fleece, how would they perceive it for the future? It remained a great unknown to them. They could only abide in what God had commanded and directed. They had only God to lead, guide and direct them in the paths of righteousness. Regardless, life was still a choice, and each choice imbued with a consequence.

Mighty ones of God, we stand on that same precipice even now as a new year, 2025, quickly approaches. There are things we know about it because of decisions made during this year; such as the election of a president and government leadership. We peer into this future with that backward glance where fear and failure loom in the shadows. We can hear them as wolves in the darkness circling the campfire we draw near to for protection. We also have words of encouragement and decisiveness such as those in today’s text from Isaiah 43: “Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old. Behold, I AM [is] about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?” We know a bit about that something new, too, don’t we? We may not know the day nor the hour but we know that Jesus is coming. He will deliver us from evil. His rod and staff, the cross, are reminders that our past is behind us and no longer enslaves us to fear and failure. We can choose the righteousness of God even in the midst of our enemies. We are anointed, blessed and sanctified because we put our faith in Him who was faithful to God for our sake. We know that we live in the already but not yet of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven. We know that we are not alone. We know that we have a comforter and advocate in the Holy Spirit. We know there are good consequences for good choices just as there are bad consequences for bad choices. We know that God has promised to do a good thing and even now it is coming. It may be just around the corner. It may be just beyond the horizon. It may be in the next breath. But we know it is coming and by faith we see it as we walk not by sight but by the faith which God has in us. Let us say together “Come on, 2025, we are ready to do what God would have us to do in you.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.