WHAT'S NEXT

Malachi 1:1-2:17; Revelation 21:1-27; Psalm 149:1-9; Proverbs 31:10-24

“You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.... Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?”

“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’ And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’ And then he said to me, ‘Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.’ And he also said, ‘It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.’”

“For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds. Let the praises of God be in their mouths, and a sharp sword in their hands.”

“Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life.”

In his absolutely wonderful book, Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck made one particularly insightful point I have carried with me for well over thirty years now. Every journey has an end. It may simply lead into another beginning, but there is nevertheless always some point at which the old passes away and the new begins. The actual road we are on may not even change, but in some way, we still come to recognize one trip as complete. Then, in that simple realization, the character of our ongoing, overall voyage necessarily changes. For Steinbeck, his journey across America ended several states shy of his house. The rest of his trip was simply “hurry up and get home.” By his own admission, during that leg, he saw little and enjoyed almost nothing, until he was reunited with family and friends. For the Christian, as attractive as “hurry up and get Home” sounds, odds are, if we are alive, another adventure lies just ahead, ready or not. The culmination of one journey simply prepares us for the next. This is one reason the Israelites’ 40 years in the desert weren’t all bad. It kept them from putting down roots that would have prevented them from taking the next step toward the Promised Land. We actually saw this “root damage” in one of the original twelve tribes, when they chose not to cross the Jordan but to plant themselves on the known, safe side. Other than a few passing references to them in later battles, they soon disappeared from the divine manuscript altogether. I most certainly do not want that to happen to me. I want to be part of God’s plan, the Creator’s adventure, for as long as I have breath. I only hope and pray this journey has adequately prepared me for the voyage which is sure to follow.

Last week, I was having lunch with the same wonderful Christian pastor who first inspired me to begin this blog odyssey. As we talked about where it has taken me and how I’ve changed as a result, a question arose which I’d been thinking a lot about recently. My family may well choose it as my epitaph, too: “What’s next?” I spoke of how I really had no feel at all for my next Big Thing. That’s unusual, and normally, quite frustrating. In this case, though, I’m honestly content to let life come to me in the Spirit’s own good time. Frankly, I hope to just rest a bit and enjoy my own family and friends while I wait.

My friend pushed back from the table with a laugh. “You know,” he pointed out, “’What’s next’ is exactly the question you asked me a year ago. (“Huh?” I thought.) But what a difference in the way you are asking it today! No desperation. No frustration. No anxiety. Just patient confidence. That’s a good thing. You’ve come a long way to get back to the beginning.”

Ah, he’s right. It’s not just the beginning, though; it is a new beginning. I don’t know much, but that is obvious. I’m simply not the same anxious, fearful, insecure and fundamentally vulnerable person I was 364 days ago. Looking back, the one and only positive I could find to hold onto was that we are all created in the image of God. What an obvious cliché that is! But a wise person once recognized that the reason things become cliché is because they are so often true. That one small anchor became the very firm foundation of this year long expedition through the Bible, and the lynchpin that changed my very human weaknesses into something that is starting to look a bit like spiritual strength.

Here is my suspicion. This has been a year of obvious re-creation and preparation. I have no idea what I am being prepared for, only that there is, somewhere out there, an actual thing or activity I will be called to which I could not – or would not - have done, or been capable of doing, a year ago. Christ, in His Grace, allowed me to struggle this year because I needed to struggle, to understand better how to struggle productively, and to learn that I really could come out the other end stronger and more complete and secure than when I started. Simply, I needed to learn to trust Him. In that transition, I learned a whole lot more, as well. I was reminded, time and again, of God’s love. I was supported – even when I did not know it – by the prayers and thoughts of beloved friends. I was challenged, daily, to become more real and, however difficult it was, more transparent. Mainly, when I finally recognized my self-reliance just would not carry me where I had to go, I was taught the mega-blessings of putting my absolute trust and confidence in Christ. I am continuing to learn how to move ahead in faith, without tripping over my own thoughts, opinions and fears of failure.

What’s next? Don’t know. Wait. That’s not precisely true. Because I do know, at least a little: what’s next is an even closer walk with Jesus and His Spirit. Then, the next challenge. But I’m OK with that, because God is here. He really does make His home with and in us. We truly can rely on Him, and even bet our lives on Him. He is worthy of our hope and our praise. That, I think, is all I need to know… for now.