For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

Isaiah 8:11-13 Revised Standard Version

Today, during our “Quiet Time” we were reading in the Book of Isaiah. When we came to these verses in Chapter 8 suddenly I understood, as Solomon did, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 RSV

By looking at world news in any media right now there are voices shouting “it’s a conspiracy!” The liberals are shouting at the conservatives. The politicians are shouting at each other from both sides of the aisle. Christians are shouting at the world and the world is shouting back. “It’s a conspiracy!”

No!

What’s happening around the globe right now is so not a conspiracy. What’s happening is a part of God’s long-term plan for His creation. Back in late December of 2019 there is a note in my journal — “expect the unexpected.” I believe God warned us months before the global lockdown, before the pandemic, before conspiracy theories were rampant everywhere. “EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!” And, I believe it’s safe to say most of the changes we’ve seen in the past two years were just that — unexpected!

As we continued reading the prophet’s words, I was prompted to look at my old Living Bible. It is a translation that has been out of print for years but I believe God’s still speaks through it. Here’s what I found:

The Lord has said in strongest terms: Do not under any circumstances go along with the plans of Judah to surrender to Syria and Israel. Don’t let people call you a traitor for staying true to God. Don’t you panic as so many of your neighbors are doing when they think of Syria and Israel attacking you. Don’t fear anything except the Lord of the armies of heaven! If you fear him, you need fear nothing else. He will be your safety; but Israel and Judah have refused his care and thereby stumbled against the Rock of their salvation and lie fallen and crushed beneath it: God’s presence among them has endangered them! Write down all these things I am going to do, says the Lord, and seal them up for the future. Entrust them to some godly man to pass on down to godly men of future generations.

Isaiah 8:11-16 TLB

Today, Dear Hearts, I implore you, in the words of the prophet Hosea:

“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of my love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower salvation upon you.

Hosea 10:12 TLB

And remember Apostle Paul’s words to the church in Corinth:

. . . if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation… We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 RSV