Nothing New Under The Sun

Sometimes when I look at my one year old, I see my two year old.  He’s doing the same things his brother did at his age, but for him they are totally new!  The picture on the left is of Matthew (now 1), and the picture on the right is of Josiah (now 2 1/2).  Wow, they look alike, and are excited about being inside the same box!  Matthew does lots of things his brother used to do.  Fun stuff, like pulling all the wipes out of the box one by one, spitting out his food when he doesn’t want it, and playing with the dishes in the dishwasher.  

It reminds me of Ecclesiastes, which made me think is there really nothing new?  Then why does the Bible also say that God does new things?  So I’ve been thinking about it and here’s what I’ve come to understand.  

We live under the sun.  We are born, we grow, we marry, we have children, etc.  All things that, although they may be new to us, have been done many times before.  God does not live under the sun.  He is the creator of the sun and therefore cannot be limited by what is under the sun.  God is the Creator and his Holy Spirit is therefore a creative spirit.  If we want to be a part of something new it has to be something God is doing in and through us.  In order to break free from doing the same thing our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. did, we must become a new creation in Christ and invite his Holy Spirit to dwell within us breathing creativity and newness into everything we do.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:19

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17