Like many children growing up I had a small bit of blanket as a comforter. Unlike many children, when I went to bed, instead of cuddling it by my face or hands I would put it by my feet and twist it between my toes and pass it from one foot to the other.

Fast forward thirty years. I’ve been in bed unwell recently and it’s been a little chilly so I’ve slept wearing thick, fluffy socks. I woke up from one nap and realised that in my sleep I had taken off my socks and was playing with them with my feet.

Apart from being mildly bemused by this occurrence, it led me to consider the following: why is it that when we’re uncomfortable we return to what is familiar? If you’re ill, what food do you most want to eat? The food your Mum made you as a kid. It’s familiar, it’s safe, it reminds you of times when life was simpler as a child, when life was secure and predictable.

In unknown or wilderness times it can be tempting to go back to what we know – because, well, we know it. It worked in the past and so it’ll work again right?!

Creatures of habit that we are, the familiar and old, comforts us and makes us feel safe. But it can also stop us from moving forward and experiencing the new things God wants to do.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Isaiah 43:19 NIV

Just as you don’t put new wine into old wineskins, sometimes we need to leave our comforters behind and be prepared to grow up into the new without reverting backwards. Don’t get me wrong – that’s scary. Stepping into the unknown, walking in faith, leaves us vulnerable and open. 

God is not predictable, so we need to stop trying to treat Him as if He’ll only work in the ways He has in the past. We can’t keep returning to the old if we want to experience the new.

Be brave this week: step away from the old. Ask God to show you the new things he’s doing that will bring direction and life, “a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Is 43:19 NIV).