What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. Ecclesiastes 1:9-10.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:6-9.

Both of the above Scripture verses struck me as appropriate for our day today in this world that changes so rapidly and not for the better. Psalm 123: I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of the female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt. We have endured no end of ridicule from the arrogant, of contempt from the proud.

Contempt, arrogance and pride are nothing new. Think of all the ages of mankind filled with pride and arrogance which bring contempt. And for what? So we can continue with the way of mankind. That’s why the psalmist wrote, I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. There is nothing new under the sun in the ways of mankind, just different ways of it being experienced. What we can do is turn to our Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, who has seen it all. In Jesus Today, Sarah Young included these two passages…Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. – Vaclav Havel. And…Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. . . that you may become. . . children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. – Philippians 2:12-13, 15.

To become children of our Father is something new that was ordained from before the world was formed. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:11-14.

Arrogance, contempt, pride…what enslaves us. The love of God is what frees us. The Lord is my hope as I look at this world so in need of God. I lift up my eyes to you, merciful God, and find hope. Thank You, Lord, for You. We may not understand the evil in this world, but we can know how it will turn out for good because You, not us, are Sovereign. Let Your Will be done.