We have all heard of a “new normal” in the world since the appearance of the covid pandemic. For each one there is a different understanding of what that “normal” is like, and what it means. Some ideas overlap: “I’ll never feel the same about being in a crowded place.”, or “Business will never be the same now that so many can do their work anywhere”, or “Shopping is altogether different now that people are buying so much online.” The list of differences is long.

Is there anyone who doesn’t wish that “things” could be more stable and predictable, more like “things” were before the first covid outbreak and before our political upheavals, and before the many changes that technology has wrought?

The most beloved psalm in the Bible, the twenty third, speaks to both time and eternity. In this psalm the presence of God in the life of the psalmist makes all the difference: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” After some beautiful images of still waters and green pastures he sums it up with, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”(Ps. 23:4&6) The calm assurance of this psalm evokes peace in the present, and peace in the future founded simply on the presence of God Himself in every particular of the psalmists’ life. He rejoices in his relationship to the Lord: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Both the present and the future are secure in his relationship to God.

In Revelations, Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new!. . . Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ( Rev. 21:5) He is telling us that He is making a new normal, full of the Spirit of the 23^rd Psalm, but offered to all who would listen and believe. Jesus’ new normal will never stop being new, as it is continually renewed exactly as the psalmist says, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake.” (Ps. 23:3)

Jesus’ new normal finds its roots in the old revelation , and brings newness to a world looking for “normal”

In giving us all these words God has extended to us His eternal normal. We get to experience a foretaste of His life here and now. The words are scripture, and they deliver a new normal that has everlasting life.

Love in Him,

Prue