Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, December 15, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This gives me goosebumps. I am about to do a new thing.
Sometimes I get really jaded and cynical. I fall in to my Ecclesiastes mentality that there is absolutely nothing new under the sun. (I love Ecclesiastes, by the way. Don’t get me wrong.) I wonder if anything really matters. Like, at all.
Then I read God say, “I am about to do a new thing” and my heart skips a beat. Just let that simple statement sink in. Repeat it. Breathe through it. Recognize the expectation: I am about to. We’re on the cusp. Newness is possible. It’s imminent. Something is going to be transformed. Because even if I fall back to “nothing is new under the sun” I believe in transformation. I’ve experienced it. It’s breathtaking. This new thing God is about to do isn’t about creating some novel thing or experience in the way we demand as modern technology-driven consumers. This new thing is a complete reordering of all that is. It is a transformation of the world, but more importantly, it is a transformation of us.
I say all the time when I teach kids or write kids’ materials: Jesus changes everything. Or Jesus turns everything on its head. During Advent, we wait with ever-growing excitement for God’s action in our jaded and cynical world.
God is about to do a new thing. Do you feel it?
Do I find myself not believing new things are possible? How do I interpret this verse from Isaiah?
