The Old Has Gone; The New Has Come

Everything is prophetic to me. Okay, not everything, but the Lord speaks through so much of what happens in my day-to-day life.

My mom got a new car a few weeks ago. New to her, anyway. She’s driven around the same crossover since I was in college, which is getting to be quite a few years ago now, to my dismay. Am I really that old? (Yes. Yes, I am.)

Since my mom was out of town, the new car got delivered to me. It gleamed against the winter snow, a stark contrast to her old vehicle, which is starting to rust at the bottom, has a creaky door, and needs a good wash after driving on gravel roads. It’s been a good car, but it’s starting to show its age.

As the keys to the new car were handed to me, I immediately thought of Isaiah 22:22, which I’ve had displayed on a chalkboard since the beginning of the year because I feel like it’s such a “now” word:

I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

Isaiah 22:22 NIV

This verse is about authority. I (along with many others) believe this is a year of authority and of God doors opening and closing.

As I’m writing this, I’m noticing that the necklace I chose to wear today also says “authority” on it. Just in case I needed more confirmation. 😊

Last week, I had one of those weeks. You know the kind. I was stressed, overextended, and just about everything that could go wrong did. I accidentally sliced my finger with a can opener and was bleeding all over the kitchen. I had to preach again in school and had major nerves. The recipe I made for dinner totally flopped. It was one thing after another.

The craziest and most annoying thing, though, was that I had not one but two cars die on me multiple times over the course of the week. (Bizarrely, this is not the first time this has happened to me!) The weather was great and these are both cars that normally run just fine. Two separate times I was trying to get to dentist appointments, and I had to call my dad to come and jump-start me.

My car: dead. My mom’s old car: dead.

And her new car: shiny and clean in the garage, blocked in by the old car. Just great.

I was so mad when neither of those cars would start, but especially the second time. I wanted to scream. I hate being late. I had literally just preached a sermon on responsibility the day before – talk about ironic timing! I was so embarrassed that this happened two times in a row, making me late to two consecutive appointments at the same place. The second time around, I was even leaving 15 minutes early to be extra cautious, and I still ended up late!

As I waited for the jumper cables to arrive and subsequently drove to the appointment I was late for, I grumbled to God. I asked him why he would allow this and what it meant. I didn’t hear anything back. I pressed my foot to the accelerator and prayed that he’d supernaturally stop the clocks so I could get to my appointment on time. (He did not.) I was so frustrated, because I’d done the right thing by being ready to leave early, and here I was, still late. Still behind. Still the one fighting the clock.

It all turned out okay and the dental office was blessedly gracious about my tardiness both times. The second time, my appointment only lasted five minutes, and I came outside to find the car once again dead in the parking lot. I had to call my dad to jump-start me one more time so I could make it back home, but make it home I did.

Later that night, I was still a little testy as I thought about everything that had happened with those cars, and God began to speak:

I am doing a new thing! The old vehicle represents the old season, which is over. Your dead car represents who you used to be, but that’s not who you are anymore. You’ve grown and you’ve outgrown the old ways. You have crossed over from the old to the new. Hand over the old framework to me and receive the new. You already have the keys.

Get it? It’s a time of crossover. Both my mom’s vehicles are crossovers. I love how God speaks. He uses literal imagery to paint a spiritual picture.

I know this sounds like a pity party, but my mom’s had that old car through the toughest years of my life. Like that car, I’ve been off the beaten path. The journey has not been a smooth one, and I’m marked with the dust of the wilderness. Both that car and I have acquired a few battle scars over the years, and we’re both starting to show our age. (Can wrinkles appear overnight? Because that’s how it feels when I look in the mirror lately. 🤪)

But that wilderness season is in the past, and it’s a new season. The crossover already arrived; the new is here.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

If this resonates with you at all, you’re probably going through a similar transition: exiting the wilderness and stepping into the new season.

As I thought about the dead batteries, I felt the Lord saying, I’m trying to tell you that old season is dead and gone! There’s no power left in that season, and what used to work no longer will. It’s time to move the old frame out of the way, take the keys I’ve given you, and step into the new. You feel like it’s taken longer than it should’ve to get here, but you’ll see that I’ve worked everything out.

In my real-life car saga, my dad is the one who came to jump-start the old car. He had the (literal) power to do so, and he did it so I could get where I needed to go. It’s the same way with the Heavenly Father. He has the power to jump-start anything, and he has used the old season (the old car) to get us where he knew we needed to go.

Now we’re there. Maybe later than we expected, but we’ve finally arrived. It’s a new season. It’s not the wilderness one we left, and it will require a different framework – a different way of thinking. Just as the old car needed to be moved out of the way so the new car could get out and running, we need to clear out the old in our lives to make room for the new in order to move forward in power.

If your journey has been anything like mine, it’s been a wild ride, one you probably wouldn’t have chosen. But you’ve survived! You’ve crossed over! You’ve made it to the other side!

God’s given you the authority. You hold the keys in your hand. But they’re for the new season, not the old one. Close the door to the old season and open the door to the new one.

Welcome to the new. 😊