Summer is over
Key Bible Passages : Isaiah 43:18–19
There’s something strange about the end of summer. For a few weeks, normal routines have been interrupted. Maybe you’ve been away on holiday, at a festival or summer camp, spent time with friends and family, or simply enjoyed having a break from the usual routine. And then September arrives, and suddenly everything starts again.
For some, that means a new school year. For others, it might mean starting college or university, beginning a new job, joining a new group, moving somewhere new, or simply returning to the normal routines of life. New beginnings can be exciting, but they can also feel uncertain. There are new people, new places, new expectations, new opportunities, and lots of things we don’t yet know.
In Isaiah 43, God speaks to his people at a time when they were facing an uncertain future. They knew the stories of what God had done in the past, but they couldn’t yet see what he was going to do next. Into that uncertainty God says: “But forget all that it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new.”
God wasn’t finished with them. There was more to come.
Sometimes we can spend so much time looking backwards that we miss what God wants to do next. Maybe the last year was brilliant. Maybe it was difficult. Maybe there are moments you wish you could relive, or things you wish you could go back and change. Whatever the last year looked like, God invites us to keep moving forward with him.
The difficult thing about new beginnings is that we don’t know what is going to happen. Will I make friends? Will I fit in? Will I be good enough? What if things don’t work out? What if I mess up? We can’t see everything that is going to happen over the next few weeks or months, and that uncertainty can sometimes make starting something new feel scary.
But although the future might be unknown to us, it isn’t unknown to God. Wherever you are going next, God is already there. You don’t walk into that classroom alone. You don’t arrive at university alone. You don’t start that new job alone. You don’t walk into that new group alone. Whatever this next season looks like, God goes with you.
And perhaps one of the best prayers we can pray at the beginning of a new season isn’t simply, “God, please make everything go well.” Perhaps a better prayer is: “God, what are you already doing here, and how can I be part of it?”
Because a new beginning isn’t only about what might happen to us. It is also about what God might want to do through us.
There might be someone who needs a friend. Someone who needs encouragement. Someone who feels like they don’t belong. There might be an opportunity to stand alongside someone, to be generous, to talk about your faith, or to use a gift God has given you. Following Jesus means learning to notice those moments and being willing to join in with what God is already doing.
Isaiah says that God can make a way “I will make a pathway through the wilderness.” God can be at work even when we can’t yet see the way forward. Sometimes the new thing God is doing has already begun before we have even noticed it.
So as summer ends and a new season begins, perhaps the question isn’t simply, “What will this year bring?” Perhaps a better question is, “God, what new thing are you doing?”
What might God want to do in you? What might God want to do through you? And what might happen if you began this new season simply saying:
“Jesus, I’m ready. Show me what you’re doing, and help me to follow you.”
Questions
To help with further reflection, thought or application.
1: As you begin this new season, what are you excited about and what are you worried about?
2: Where might God already be at work, and how could you join in with what he is doing?