[Modified transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], April 2020]
Amidst all the change and unknowns, is it possible for us to have hope for the future?
Hi guys, I’m coming to you from my dog walk. I put the kids in front of ‘Frozen II’ and I’ve taken this opportunity to get out and have my one exercise a day and get a bit of fresh air.
In the Old Testament we’re told about a time when the nation of Israel had been defeated, pretty much due to their own disobedience. They were defeated by the great Babylonian Empire and their city was destroyed. They were taken off to Babylon where they were going to live their lives. Their identity had been stolen; they were no longer Jewish in the same sense that they recognized from the past and they’re going to be living out a different life in a strange and foreign land. Some people were really hopeful and said “Don’t worry, this is that it going to be a couple of weeks. God will sort this all out” but the reality was very different. In fact, a whole generation was spent in exile in this strange land and they must have felt completely bereft. They must have been mourning their previous way of life, they must have struggled with their identity about who they were. Maybe they’re asking “God, why has this happened?”
01:18 Perhaps you’re asking similar sorts of questions at this time of the corona virus, of the COVID-19 pandemic, and maybe you have the same question: “God, why has this happened?” Maybe you’re struggling with some of the questions about “What is the future going to look like?”, “What is our society going to look like?”, “What’s my family going to look like?”, “What is church going to look like?” So many questions about what the future may hold and perhaps for you the future seems pretty bleak and nothing is going to be the same. Is there any hope for the future?
02:02 For the nation of Israel in that time of change, that time of exile, God gave them these words through the prophet Isaiah: he said “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’m making a way in wilderness and streams in the wastelands”.
02:36 You see, I believe wholeheartedly that God is here in the midst of this whole situation; despite the darkness, despite the difficulties, despite the challenges and the changes, despite our fears and anxiety. God is with us and the reality is that God is doing something new. Are you able to sense it? Are you able to perceive it? I believe that where there was desert God is bringing life, where there was wasteland and destruction God is building something new. I believe that there is hope for the future and, yes, we may be fearful now, we may be anxious but God is saying “Forget about how things once were; the more you cling on to the past the more anxious you are going to be about the future”.
03:37 Instead, trust in a God who is going to do something new, something wonderful. I believe that God can make good of any situation, however awful and terrible it might be, and this is an awful and terrible situation, but I believe that God will do something new and something different and something wonderful. God will bring life where there once was death.
So I hope that cheers you up a bit, I hope maybe that relieves some of your fear and anxiety. I hope that maybe that gives you a little bit of excitement about what God might be doing in this new season.
[1] YouTube link: Is There Hope for the Future?
Bible references: Isaiah ch43 v 17-18
~~~~~~~~
.
Return to Mid-week Meditations
Jump to Index of Bible Passages
.
Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
