This Too

I have heard too many times throughout 2020, "This too shall pass."  And even more recently, "If we can just get to 2021, things will be different." Yes, circumstances may change in significant ways, but "just getting through" this crazy year of pandemic and social unrest, wild fires in the woods and politics, is not that on which our hope is based.  Our hope is not dependent on the duration of the pandemic. 

We have lost something precious if we just find ourselves unchanged on the other side of this.

Because in Scripture, God promises over and over again, through times of hardship and flourishing:  "This too I redeem."  We can stake our lives on that reality.  The reason we cannot yet see the end of this rocky road, nor the outcome, is that we are not able to comprehend all the seamless intricacies of eternity, nor His endless love, grace and faithfulness, even in this.  

It is not that circumstances will just pass by, and we are untouched, but we are transformed by God along the way.  Even in hardship, God is walking with us through it.  And that cannot help but change how we see God, how we see the sacredness of every life, how we respond to need, how we love others, and how we see ourselves.  

No, in all these things

we are more than conquerors

through Him who loved us.

For I am sure that

neither death nor life,

nor angels nor rulers,

nor things present

nor things to come,

nor powers,

nor height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us

from the love of God

in Christ Jesus our Lord.

         Romans 8. 37-39

We have no idea of what is to come in this new year, but hope is neither wishful thinking, nor ignoring what is taking place all around us.   According to God's Word, hope is His Presence on which we can stake our lives. 

Even though

I walk through the valley of deep darkness,

I will fear no evil,

for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff,

they comfort me.

          Psalm 23. 4 

The one thing we can know, going into this new year, is that God loves us and is with us, no matter what.  Even in the impossible, we don't just find His strength, but we are changed by Him.  God aligns our hearts to His.

Jackie Hill Perry posted on Instagram yesterday:

"Even if next year is just like this year, I won't be.  Even if 2021 doesn't change, I will.  I'm committed to changing even if nothing else does." 

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off  from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

GOD, the Lord, is my strength;

He makes my feet like the deer's;

He makes me tread on my high places.

                  Habakkuk 3. 17-19 

God is faithful.

This too God redeems.

A blessed new year to you, my friend.