Let’s Start Again

Scripture:

Ex. 12:1 ¶ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
Ex. 12:2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.

Observation:

The children of Israel had now been living in Egypt for generations.  Life was a grind serving as slaves to the Egyptians but now God wasmoving to set his people free.  His promise of freedom was to be marked by a new beginning.  From now on the calendar would begin with the event of God’s intervention in the lives of his people. 

Application:

Life is filled with new beginnings.  Sometimes it’s a whole new book, and sometimes it’s a new chapter in that book.  When Christ enters our lives it is the beginning of a whole new book.  The story is just being written — fresh and new.  The old book — it’s gone!  Now it’s time to start with clean pages, ones that can be filled and empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit.  The adventure is greater than anything that we could ever begin to imagine. 

Along the way there are moments of divine intervention.  The children of Israel began their new book, their new year, their new journey — by celebrating the Passover.  They were celebrating this in anticipation of what God would be doing for them.  Sometimes we are called to celebrate what God is promising to do for us before it has even happened.  The new day dawns with us moving forward in faith, believing what God has promised us and willing to be obedient.  And then come the moments of divine intervention; those times when we clearly see the hand of God moving in ways we never imagined possible.  We are overwhelmed by his presence in our lives and in the world around us.

Starting again may also be a new chapter in the journey.  One chapter comes to an end and another has to be written.  Again, before us are blank pages and we have no idea how they will be filled, but we move forward in the grace of the Lord, trusting in him for his leadership and guidance.  The blank pages may scare us a little.  They certainly frightened Moses and Aaron.  We’ve never been down this road before.  We don’t know how the story ends, but our heavenly Father, who loves us more than we can imagine has promised his presence with us for the entire journey.  We will never be alone.  We are not to be afraid but begin writing the chapter, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph and eventually, page by page.  We will be surprised when the story becomes woven together and makes sense in the entire story-line of the book. 

This promise of a new start wasn’t just for the children of Israel.  When God steps into our lives he provides us with a new beginning, a place from which everything starts over again.  The Israelites had to be willing to be obedient to the challenge placed before them.  If the old is bogging us down, maybe it’s time to step into the new and start all over again with God.  It’s fresh - let’s start again.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the newness of life in the kingdom.  Amen.