Something New

The Word of God tells us that Moses is one "unequalled  for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt..." (Deuteronomy 34:11)  There had never before been anyone like Moses in Isreal's history and even today he is on a pedastal marked "One of a Kind."  Leaders like Moses are not the self made and self declared leaders of the day, but instead are the ones who are called and shaped by the God who does the calling.  It is interesting that the descriptive language here at this juncture of Biblical history is much the same as that which we read in the early words of the book of Acts as it speaks of the church being a hotbed for signs and wonders.    

There is much chaos and disarray in these days in the church which odained me fifty-three years ago.  And while being retired puts me more on the sidelines than in the midst of the fray, it still fills me with sadness and grief when I see what is happening to a spiritual community which has blessed me for a life time.  But, as is always the case with the history of God's people, we should not live without hope.  The Old Testament remnant theology was born out of the hard difficult moments when the people had lost their way.  Remnant theology tells us that God will use a small segment of the larger group to begin again with a new work which is of His heart.    

So, in the midst of the confusion it is not foolish to pray that there might once again be leaders who come forth bearing the distinctive signs and wonders brand of leadership and that a church falling apart will once again be picked up and given a ministry born not of what is deserved or has been earned, but one of grace.  A  recurring word of hope is one that declares to my spirit, "Do not be afraid of the new that I am doing."  And while the holy new may not come tomorrow, we can live with hope that God is at work in the chaos to create and make new and to once again bring in an era of signs and wonders for a broken church and a wandering people.