9 April 2025

In Isaiah’s prophecy (43;16-21), the Lord suggests that the wild animals will honour him. This may be part of Isaiah’s glorious vision of the ‘peaceable kingdom’ where the lion will lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them or it may be something else like a warning to those who do not trust in the new thing which God is doing.

For two creatures are mentioned in the text. The first is the ostrich. In the Bible, she is considered foolish laying her eggs on the ground and treating her young as if they weren’t hers. ‘For God did not endow her with wisdom.’ says Job. And for us, she sticks her head in the sand hoping that any change will never happen!

There are parishes where the elders and members are growing older and the worshipping community is diminishing in size and people are only interested in keeping things going as they hope that things will stay just the same and see them out!

The second creature is the jackal. It belongs to the wild dog category. It is styled as a lonely, abandoned creature haunting the ancient ruins of glorious buildings whose stone has crumbled and whose glory has long departed. The jackal hunts for something that will never be for that world lies in ruins!

We look to our past and we see much which endeared us to the Kirk. We long for the days when the kirk was fuller, there were children worshipping with us, Christian agencies were thriving, people found meaning within our walls. But these are treasured memories not templates for our present existence.

Resisting the way of the ostrich and the jackal, we listen to the Word of God. ‘I am about to do a new thing.’ says the Lord to the people suffering a humiliating exile in Babylon. ‘Now it springs forth.’ This is our Lenten hope, our little springtime, our new growth. And then He asks, ‘Do you not perceive it?’

One thing is sure. We will not see the work of God within our world unless we look for it. This requires alertness on our part. This is a spiritual discipline which comes from being ready to stop still and to look around and to listen not least to the voice of God within us.