Is God Taking Us To a New Place?

A few days ago, I happened upon a testimonial-type sermon given by Sandi Patty.  Patty, as many of you know, is a gospel singer who began her career about 40 years ago.  Since then, she has accumulated a closet full of awards…multiple Grammy and Dove awards, and many other accolades.  She is known in gospel circles simply as “The Voice.”  Her vocal range of over three octaves, and her command of her voice is on par with the greatest of singers.

As you may also know, Patty went through a very tragic and public failure in the late 1980’s.  She has admitted to an affair with a married man while married to another, and  has endured the disappointment and displeasure of many in the Christian music world.  She is now married to that man, and has been for the past 25 or so years.  They have a blended family.

In her sermon, Patty talks about that time, the tragic aftermath, the sorrow, repentance, and restoration that has taken place since then.  She uses as Scripture for her story, the story of Noah and the Flood.

Now, you might think that to be an unlikely portion of Scripture to use in such a sermon.  However, her point was two-fold.  In Genesis 8:1, the verse starts out, “But God remembered Noah…”  When the Bible talks about God “remembering” someone, it is more than just a recalling of that person.  The sense of the Hebrew is looking upon someone with concern and favor.  Patty believes that God remembered her and her family in the way that the Hebrew states.

Second, when the ark finally came to rest, and God told Noah to depart the ark, Noah most certainly wasn’t in the same place as he left.  God had taken Noah to a new place.  In the same way, Patty believes that God took her and her family to “a new place.”

Actually, this is a normal thing for God.  If you recall, God took Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Israel, the prophets, the twelve disciples, Paul, and many others to “a new place.”  And in that new place many of these people settled down, had families, and served God where they were.  Some, such as Paul, never did really settle down after God had taken him to a new place.  But they served the Lord as they were capable and able in the place where God had brought them, just as Noah fulfilled the command of God to be fruitful and multiply in the new place where God had brought him.

As I listened to her message, I had to bring her points up to the present day with the COVID 19 virus pandemic.  The thing perhaps on your mind right now, given the circumstance of the day, may be, does God “remember” us during this pandemic?  Is God looking upon us with concern and favor?  I believe He is.  I believe God is well-aware of our individual situations and circumstance, and “remembers” us through this trial.

Second, is God taking us to “a new place” through the COVID 19 epidemic?  Is He moving us out of our old place of comfort, our place of security, our place of normalcy, the “ruts” that we find so comforting, and into a new place of some sort?  Now, I’m not saying that God is CAUSING the epidemic.  But I have to wonder if He somehow is using it to reach His people in some way that will eventually result in a revival, in some of us anyway, of love for God, service to others, and developing a closer walk with Jesus Christ.

I don’t know the answers.  I am barely able to formulate questions.  But I do know that God is never-changing, ever-trustworthy, and love that never fails or disappoints.  Be assured that He remembers you, loves you, and in taking you to a new place will ever watch over you.