behold I will do a new thing

Isa 43.19 (KJV) Behold I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Although we did not have a TV in our home when I was young, I remember watching an episode or two of Coronation street at friend’s houses. One of the significant stories I remember was a reaction that one of the senior ladies had, to the new coin decimalisation. It might have been Minnie Caldwell. She said she did not agree with it and preferred the old pounds shillings and pence, so was going to stay with the old system. The trouble was she did not have a choice. The day came for decimalisation 15^th February 1971 and we all had to convert to the new system whether we liked it or not.  I was only 17 at the time and loved the new system. It was just so much easier to work out.

It is often quite a challenge to adapt to new ways of doing things. Most of us had never heard of Zoom until this year, but now I go to the Sunday meeting, the house group, prayer with my triplet group and dance classes with 10 other people, all on Zoom, from my front room at home.

I have been impressed with the way people in our fellowship have adapted to new ways of doing things. We cannot meet together in the same way, but people are still building relationships, encouraging and praying for one another. We have our faith and confidence in a God who does not change in his character, but he does allow change to come into our lives.

The Gospel doesn’t change and the Church is still based on the gathering of believers, but I believe he wants to show us new ways of doing things. The Holy Spirit inspired these verses in Isaiah about making all things new. My prayer is that God will help us to prosper, as our nation changes, as our church family changes, and we individually make changes. He promises to make rivers in the desert, so let’s look for those life giving streams in all the changes.