While naming years is not something I very often give much thought to, considering the past couple of years I found myself lying in bed the other night contemplating what could this year be called?
2020 was the year of lockdowns, 2021 the year of mandates and segregation, and this year right from the start is looking like shaping up to be disruptive.
So, I concluded that this year is looking to be the year of disruption.
Businesses closed as COVID goes through their staff, families finding themselves stuck at home as COVID goes through the house, ruined holidays, birthdays, etc.
The very first lines in the Bible from read …
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said ...,
The story continues after this with God speaking light, land, living creatures, etc., into existence.
When I read this, I see a blank canvas ready for painting.
And I see God dreaming about what could/will become.
It starts with God creating nothing more than a round ball.
No continents, no people, no plants, trees, animals; nothing.
It was empty and covered with darkness.
The beginning of the Bible and the beginning of 2022 have this one thing in common.
There is a cloud of (at least potential) darkness hovering over it.
A sense of apprehension, anxiety, or unease about what 2022 could bring.
I like how with this blank canvas that God was looking at, among the darkness, among the nothingness, His Spirit was hovering, ready to release and bring to life and light into it.
Could it be that God’s Spirit is hovering over the year that is before us?
Could it be that He has something in store for you, ready to be activated this year?
Could it be that this year God is wanting to fill you with hope, with promise, with life?
I wonder as we move further and further into 2022, what would this year look like if we allowed God to fill our hearts with hope, promise and life?
How would it change how we handle and interact with the disruption that seems to be coming our way?
While I do not know the exact aspects of what that would look like for all of us, what I do believe is that it would look like an absence of internal futility, hopelessness, and despair.
— Rob Wiltshire, Epicentre Church
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