The Next School Year, the Same God

A devotion written for a bunch of educators in the month of August is just begging to talk about the idea of “new.” “New Beginnings.” “Behold, I am doing a new thing…” “A blank page!” “A fresh start!” Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Sorry to disappoint, but this devotion will not cover any of those ideas.

Rather, as the summer passes and the school year begins, one could consider this a time of transition. And almost everyone can attest to the fact that making a “smooth” transition is nowhere near easy. Moving from one season to the next, by nature, even if it looks “smooth,” almost never feels “smooth.” It is almost always challenging and stressful, and rarely would one call it “peaceful.” Rather, in many cases, it is only several weeks or months after the transition has been completed that one begins to feel a semblance of “peace.”

Teachers know this well. The weeks leading up to the first day of school are filled with meetings, lesson planning, gradebook set-up, and classroom set-up. The first several weeks after the first day of school are about establishing rules and routines, taking the first steps into various courses and subjects, and, of course, learning a whole new set of student names. Your mileage may vary, but “peace” and “smoothness,” if you’re anything like the average teacher, rarely come before Labor Day.

Some who are reading this are taking even bigger steps of transition than just a new group of students. Some have a new grade level or subject area (and perhaps a new classroom). Some have a new job title or area of responsibility. And some are starting at a whole new school and ministry (and just when they got the LMS at the last school dialed in, they have to learn a whole new one-darn!)

Where do we, as the people of God, go during these challenging times of transition? Where do we find peace in the swirl of change, preparation, and “new?”

Moses begins the 90th Psalm this way: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (verses 1-2).

Wherever the people of God are, there God is. We have been made to belong to Him, as His own possession (1 Peter 2:9). That is an identity that transitions with you. It was true in whatever season came before, it’s true now, and it will continue to be true in the next.

What’s more, Moses reminds us, is that peace, confidence, and joy are found in God alone in seasons of all kinds. He prays in verse 14: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” The steadfast love of the LORD, the promises He has made to His people, are proven trustworthy in the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. God does not depart from His people, even if they stray from Him. God does not change His stance toward them, even if their station or vocation changes. And God is the same this upcoming school year as He was in the last: a refuge for His people when challenges abound, loyal in His love for them, and powerful in the work He accomplishes through teachers and administrators alike.

As we transition into the next curriculum, the next classroom of students, the next school year, let us join in Moses’ final petition from Psalm 90:

“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”

Amen

Ryan Fink, Crean Lutheran High School, Irvine, CA