Things are not the way they’re supposed to be. There’s supposed to be peace. There’s supposed to be justice. There isn’t supposed to be any cause of pain or fear or anxiety or grief. I think even the most evil people in the world are aware of it: something is broken, but there is a right way the world is supposed to be working that we’ve never even seen, but we know it’s there. Deep in every human heart, we yearn to see it.
When we recognize that awareness in ourselves, and contemplate that deep longing in our heart for a restored world, it’s therapeutic to go to Scripture and find God’s countless promises that such a world is sure to come. As Zechariah tells the scattered and exhausted Israelites, God will one day permanently dwell with his people. And he paints a beautiful picture of that future: the old will be at peace because there will be no fear of death, the young will play freely with no threat to their safety, and every man and woman will be faithful to God. And best of all, that famous mantra: he will be their God, and they will be his people.
What a contrast that perfect world is from our current one! We may notice all the rampant evil on the news, in the amber alerts, across social media, even in our own families, and feel our hope drip out of us. But don’t forget that our God is so big, so strong and so mighty that there is nothing he cannot do! It may seem too marvelous a future to us, but is it too marvelous for God? He can and he will; he will surely, actually make all things new and reign in righteousness.
It is good to yearn. It is good to writhe in agony at the fact that things are not the way they’re supposed to be, and to long for a new day. Because that new day will indeed come. Don’t settle for this broken world; wait eagerly for Christ to come and dwell permanently with us once again. He will make everything the way it’s supposed to be. He will build his city on a foundation of justice and peace. He will be all ours, and we will be all his. Believe that’s true, because that day will surely, actually come.
