Letting Go and Letting God – Happy New Year 2012
What an excellent example of how
God will supply provision for us, even if only for a season. God knows the
plans He has for us, and by drying up the brook and stopping the ravens from delivering
food every morning and evening, Elijah had no choice but to move on.
Notice how the Lord gave him
further instructions on the process to the next level.
“Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” The New International Version. 2011 (1 Ki 17:9)
Temporary provision can be a way
the Lord encourages us to keep us moving in the direction he has laid out for
us. If the provision was permanent, we would
most likely feel quite comfortable and settle there, not willing to leave on a
faith walk.
So many things can change in our
lives over time, our very best friends can betray us, our relationships can dry
up, our church experiences disappoint us, we may lose our jobs, our status or our
positions in life. It can be so easy to
get emotionally stuck, wasting hours and weeks longing for the ‘good old days’
before ‘the struggles’ happened. And yet
we are clearly encouraged to let go and move forward.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. The New International Version. 2011 (Heb 12:1–2)
And unless our eyes are firmly
fixed on Jesus, it can feel too risky to move forward and we can settle in dry place in which God has long ago lifted his hand. The
favour has moved on and we must walk forward to the promised land.
When Elijah moved on in obedience
to Zaratheth, he was met by a woman at the gate to the city just as the Lord
had promised! Now, in this new level of authority, Elijah
raised the dead!
Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” The New International Version. 2011 (1 Ki 17:19–23)
Elijah had entered new season,
and of letting go of the old
and embracing the new.
The Lord always wants to release you
and I to a new level…. change is a step forward. It’s a part of His plan. Moving forward may require us to leave
behind – people, places, habits, conveniences, plans, structures and even
dreams, but it always requires us to leave behind unforgiveness, bitterness, and anger.
Where am I in this season? Where
are you? What does God have for us in
2012? In the process of moving forward
in 2012, let’s take the time to honour the positive things we have learned from
those negative prior experiences, and let’s move on to the next level in
Christ.
These things are for certain – He
does have a plan for us. He loves us
unconditionally. He understands our weaknesses. So let’s keep our eyes firmly focused on Jesus as we enter a new year in a needy world, let's keep looking
for opportunities to advance the Kingdom of God, and allow ourselves to be stretched and
take a few risks in the process!
Ring Out, Wild Bells
|
fom In Memoriam A.H.H. by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1849)
|
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild
sky,
The flying
cloud, the frosty light;
The year is
dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him
die.
Ring out the old, ring in the
new,
Ring, happy
bells, across the snow:
The year is
going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the
true.
Ring out the grief that saps the
mind,
For those that
here we see no more,
Ring out the
feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient
forms of party strife;
Ring in the
nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care the
sin,
The faithless
coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring
out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and
blood,
The civic
slander and the spite;
Ring in the
love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul
disease,
Ring out the
narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand
wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of
peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger
heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the
darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
May you and yours have a happy and Christ filled New Year! |
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