Prior to our staff meetings we have a devotional. This particular day we watched a sermon by Perry Noble. He bagan his sermon with "I Want My Mullet Back" by Billy Ray Cyrus. Here is the chorus: "I want my mullet back. My ol' Camero, an' my eight-track. Fuzzy dice hangin' loose an' proud. ZZ Top, they're playin' loud. A simple time, that's what I miss. Your mini-skirt an' your sweet kiss. Things are changin' man, an' that's a fact. I want my mullet back!" After the song he acknowledged that people were raising their arms more than when they hear worship songs! Then he mentioned the ladies who had the catchers mitt hair do's. The ones whose bangs were sprayed a mile high! They could bend over and catch a baseball! The pastor said, sarcastically, when we see those men with 80's mullets and women with the 80's catcher's mitts, we think, "now they are about progress!"
This sermon went on to talk about growing in Christ. It made me think about hearing old songs and telling Mike what it reminds me of and he always says, "Jill, you live in the past." I think it brings a lot of us back to a memory. Eric Church sings, "funny how a melody sounds like a memory." While I like to hear old songs and reminisce about old times I do not think we should live in the past. We need to be moving forward.
Isaiah 43: 16-19, “This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” This is what the prophet Isaiah told the Israelites while they were in captivity.
I have to say in the last seven months I have wanted to live in the past. A time before isolation, social distancing, masks, 50% occupancy, no church, working from home, no visiting elderly or sick, home schooling, zoom meetings and I could go on and on. At tmes I have felt like we are going through the mighty waters! At times I feel like I am going to be snuffed out. This time has been emotionally and mentally challenging. The Isrealites had lost everything and because of their rebellion, they thought God wanted nothing to do with them. But God responded. He said, “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” That is hard for me rght now. The Lord says to me, "Jill, forget the former things and do not dwell on the past". To move forward I am going to have to trust in verse 19 when God tells me that He is doing a new thing! This is what I need to dwell on!
As we sing in church, God is working "even when we don't see it. Even when we don't feel it." God is strengthening our relationship with Him. We are being reminded that we are not in control. We are being reminded that we cannot do this life by ourselves - we must lean on Him. He has not forgotten about us! He tells us, "I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Let's get our focus on the power of God. The writer of Hebrew tells us in Hebrews 12: 2, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith..." We cannot do this while looking behind us. We have to move forward to accomplish what God needs us to do. He is doing a new thing! I still believe this may be a time of a great awakening! 1 Corinthians 2: 9, "However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived' - the things God has prepared for those who love him—". We must trust God to be making a way for us! If we trust Him we will experience isaiah 26: 3, "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you."