I’m about to blow your mind.
Awhile back I opened up my mailbox and there wrapped in protective card board sat the most glorious thing ever. It was a disc to put in my computer.
And once I put this disc in my computer and hooked my computer up to a telephone….I would have access to an information super highway. At an astonishing rate of 14.4kbps I can access about any information that I desire.
You might check your mailbox too. Word has it that this company (AOL I think the name is) will be sending out these magical discs to millions of households.
Is your mind blown?
Of course not. Nor would your mind be blown if I told you that I had internet speeds of an astonishing 56Kbps.
But I remember when I had 56K internet and I thought my face was going to be blown away by the lightning speed with which I could access sports scores. At the time that was the story.
But you aren’t even astonished by 56K internet speeds. In fact you’d laugh at me if I told you that’s what I had.
The Exodus
For the Israelites the story of the Exodus was their 56K internet. It was the story that united the nation. The story of Abraham was the AOL disc. It started the whole thing. But the Exodus…that blew peoples minds.
Fast forward the biblical story to the time of the prophet Jeremiah. The people have turned away from God and are foolishly pursuing other lovers. Because of their sin they are going to be carried off into exile.
But this is not the end of the story. Tucked away in the tear-soaked pages of Jeremiah is this bit of good news:
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, “As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them. Then they shall dwell in their own land. (Jeremiah 23:7-8)
In other words, God is going to give them a new story that causes the old story to be about as earth-shattering as an AOL disc you get in the mail in 2014. It was an awesome display in its time, but compared to this new story it bows down every time.
And we know from Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Isaiah 40-66 that this righteous Branch isn’t Zedekiah the new king. It’s pointing to King Jesus. He is the One who is big enough to make every story before him pale in comparison. We are amazed by the Exodus. It’s a great show of God’s power. But it’s 56K internet compared to the glories of what God accomplished through Jesus.
Your New Story
I wonder though, does your relationship with the Lord feel like old hat? Does it feel like your on dial-up? Are you looking at the story of the Exodus and asking, “Why doesn’t that stuff happen in my own life”?
If so, I urge you to look to the Christ. There is no better story that God will write in your life. He isn’t going to do something that would cause the light of Jesus dim. He’s not going to do that because such a story doesn’t exist. There is no better story.
You don’t need a new story. What you and I need is a fresh encounter with the old story.
