For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland…..so my chosen people can be refreshed. (Isaiah 43:19,20b NIV)
Earlier this week my morning walk took me up a farm track. It was “Baltic”, about -2 Celsius, the frosty coldness hardening the ground beneath my feet, but the sky was clear with a promise of a fine day ahead. The branches on the saplings beside the track were bare apart from the occasional dead leaf clinging desperately to its twig, as if reluctant to relinquish the memories of the spring and summer in the year past. The start of a new year in Scotland can be very cold and this day was no exception. But then I came across a bud. A sign of new life. Bursting out and swelling with confidence in the hedgerow, proclaiming to all with eyes to see, that something new was coming. And I felt God say to me that in spite of all the doom and gloom proclaimed by the world’s media and governments, He was in control, not the politicians, and Spring will come as it always has done.
God is doing something new in these days of social restrictions, bringing a future and a hope to His creation. And here’s the thing – we may not see what He is doing, but all the same He is working behind the scenes, bringing swelling buds and green shoots into our lives. I don’t know about you, reader, but in my spirit I can feel God’s love and grace reaching out to lives devoid of hope, blighted by sickness, fearful of catching the virus, depressed by another lockdown. Let’s allow our Creator God to refresh us with rivers of His Spirit in the wasteland of this Covid-ridden 21st Century society.
Being a Pilgrim 