Watch for the New

Watch for the New: Hope in a Shaking World

This is a season of unveiling. As familiar foundations shake, the Spirit is revealing Christ the cornerstone and laying foundations for what is to come. This is a time to lift our eyes, discern God’s renewing work, and build with faith, nurturing life, creating beauty, pursuing justice, and investing courageously in God’s promised future.

A Time of Unveiling

We are living in times many people describe as apocalyptic. The word is often used to mean catastrophe or destruction, but biblically it means something quite different. The Greek word apokalypsis means an unveiling — a revealing of what has been hidden.

In seasons like this, things that once seemed stable begin to shake. Systems strain. Fault lines appear. What has been concealed comes into the light.

Scripture tells us not to be surprised by this. Creation itself is caught up in a profound process of renewal. The apostle Paul writes that creation is groaning as in the pains of childbirth as it waits for the revealing of the children of God (Romans 8:19–22).

Birth pains are intense but they are not the end of the story. They signal that something new is being brought to birth. And God’s promise remains clear:

“Behold, I am making all things new.”
(Revelation 21:5)

Lift Your Eyes

In times of upheaval, the lens we look through influences what we see. We see what we are looking for.

If we expect only judgement and destruction, that is all we will see. But when we lift our eyes to see from God’s perspective, we begin to notice the persistent and powerful work of the Spirit bringing reformation, renewal, courage, creativity, and reconciliation in the midst of shaking.

Scripture invites us to set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:1–2) so that we will perceive what God is doing all around us in our world. 

So lift your eyes, look again, and ask the Spirit to highlight where new life is already beginning to emerge.

When the Foundations Are Shaken

Psalm 11 asks a question many people are asking today:

“When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)

The psalm reminds us that God’s throne is not shaken (Psalm 11:4) and His purposes remain secure even when human systems falter.

And throughout Scripture we see that when old foundations crumble, God reveals a cornerstone.

Psalm 118 declares:

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
(Psalm 118:22)

Jesus himself is the cornerstone, not just for us personally, not just for the church, but for all creation (Matthew 21:42). The apostles proclaimed that Christ is the cornerstone of a new humanity being built in him (Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:4–6).

The foundations may be shaking, this is not a time for God’s people to retreat into despair, but to look with expectation and discern where the cornerstone is being revealed and to build with him.

Prophetic Signs:

Jeremiah’s Field:

The prophet Jeremiah gives us a striking picture of what this looks like. As Jerusalem was collapsing and the nation was heading into exile, God instructed Jeremiah to buy a field in his hometown of Anathoth (Jeremiah 32:6–15). It seemed absurd. Why invest in land when everything was falling apart?

Yet Jeremiah obeyed because God had promised that restoration would come.

“Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”
(Jeremiah 32:15)

While others saw only ending, Jeremiah invested in God’s future. This is the kind of prophetic courage the Spirit is calling for again today.

Christchurch City:

The devastating earthquakes of 2010/2011 inspired and activated a wave of rebuilding, renewal, and re-formation of the community spirit and culture of the city. A massive multibillion dollar rebuild has transformed a broken city into a modern, resilient urban centre with significant improvements in infrastructure, business, and community spaces – a city that is welcoming, prospering, growing, with infrastructure and culture that support and foster the flourishing of people.

This Is a Time to Build

This is not a time for the artists to stop creating.

It is a time for artists to look to the Spirit for fresh inspiration — to reveal beauty, truth, and hope in ways that help people see again.

This is not a time for families to stop nurturing life and raising children.

It is a time to raise wise, compassionate, courageous people who will participate in God’s future.

This is not a time for teachers to lose heart in forming minds and character.

It is a time to continue shaping thoughtful, discerning people who will lead with wisdom in the years ahead.

This is not a time for communities to give up on healing and rebuilding.

It is a time to strengthen relationships, restore trust, and cultivate places where people can flourish.

And this is certainly not a time for the Church to withdraw from the world. Jesus has already told us what this season calls for. He sent his followers into the world to live and teach the way of the kingdom (Matthew 28:18–20). And the mission he embodied was described centuries earlier:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…
to bring good news to the poor,
to proclaim freedom for captives,
recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed.”
(Isaiah 61:1–3; Luke 4:18–19)

This remains our calling: feed the hungry, heal the sick, lift the oppressed, pursue justice and reconciliation, walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

This is a time to join the Spirit in the work of new creation - already emerging since Jesus rose, ascended, and sent Holy Spirit to empower the church to do this work on earth.

Renewing the Structures We Build

Whenever God reveals the cornerstone again, he not only renews hearts and communities he also renews the structures built around that foundation.

This is a time to be inspired by Holy Spirit, to renew and reform the structures we build together. When Christ is recognised again as the true cornerstone, the ways we lead, organise, and exercise authority must increasingly look, function, and produce fruit like Him.

As God renews his people, he also reshapes the structures that support their life and mission so they rest more firmly on the foundation that cannot be shaken (Ephesians 2:19–22). He does this so the Church can continue to grow as a living temple built around Christ the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22), reflecting his kingdom in both its culture and its mission.

Expect the Spirit’s Creative Leadership

When we look with hopeful, discerning eyes, we begin to see that the Spirit is already stirring fresh ideas, unexpected solutions, creative breakthroughs, and courageous leadership.

This is a time to ask God for new imagination for our fields of calling. Farmers, builders, artists, teachers, parents, leaders, healers, peacemakers – we all have places where we labour. We can expect the Spirit to guide, inspire, and empower us as we participate in God’s renewing work right where we are planted.

Look for the Cornerstone

So when the foundations seem to shake, don’t imagine that God is abandoning the world. Instead, ask: Where is the cornerstone being revealed? Where is Christ being revealed, and revealing foundations for what is coming next? And when we see it, let’s respond like Jeremiah, investing our lives, our work, and our hope in God’s promised future.

Because the One who declared, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5) is faithfully at work in the world, and he is calling us to build and rebuild with him.