Back to Normal?

When can we all just get back to normal?

There are a lot of questions I have been asking lately.

This is one of them.

The answer that I have received so far - through talking with other church pastors, sitting in on webinars, reading article after article and praying – is that we probably won’t be getting back to normal; at least not the normal with which we are all familiar.

There is a cultural buzzword, which I happen to think is over-used, that accurately describes our situation. That cultural buzzword is, “new normal.”

We will likely be able to resume meeting together as a church. We will rejoice together as we once did, and we will return to many of the same faith practices we enjoyed before we all went into quarantine. But when all of this is over, we will likely have to face a “new normal.”

We will have learned some lessons through this wandering experience. We are, in essence, wandering amid a very uncertain situation.

There were two instances in which God’s people wandered in the desert.

The first was when Abraham left his home in Ur to follow God’s leading toward a promised land. Abraham described his journey as a wandering to Abimelech.

“And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, "He is my brother."'"

(Genesis 20:13 ESV)

The book of Hebrews says this about Abraham:

“By faith, he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”

(Hebrews 11:9-10 ESV)

Abraham wandered in faith. He left his house and his home to live in the land of promise as if he were a sojourner in a foreign land. He determined that it is better to face the challenges (living in tents), with God than to enjoy the comforts of house and home without Him.

Abraham had a new normal; he embraced it and was lauded for his faith. The other example of wandering is when Israel refused to enter the promised land, and God sentenced them to wander in the desert.

Psalm 95 talks about this historical event.

“do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."

(Psalm 95:8-11 ESV)

The book of Hebrews talks about Israel as well.

“For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

(Hebrews 3:16-19 ESV)

There is a big difference between Abraham’s wandering and Israel’s wandering. Abraham was presented with a “new normal,” and he embraced it in faith. Consequently, Abraham is praised by the scriptures for his faith.

Israel was presented with a “new normal” by Joshua and Caleb, and they rejected it, seeking to stone the two faithful witnesses for their message of confidence despite the challenges before them. Their example is one scripture warns us against.

I know very little about what church life will be like once we have the option to return, but I have a hunch we will have challenges to face and a “new normal” to embrace or reject.

Brian