“What has been will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9 CSB

It gets hard some days to stay focused on the good things of this life.  So much is going on that can distract, disturb, and dishearten.  The days just seem to run together with one bad news story after another. I was recently reading in 1 Samuel 7 and was reminded that this is not new.  It may be getting worse and more frequent, but it’s not new, and it’s not a surprise to the great I AM. 

Israel had come out of Egypt, spent years wandering around, and received God’s mercy multiple times.  They had been oppressed by their enemies and experienced deliverance through many God-appointed judges, and now they had Samuel to judge them. Samuel was a dad as well as a judge, but his sons, who he appointed as the next judges, did not judge by God’s standards. They became oppressors of God’s people. Before Samuel died the people rejected Samuel’s sons and said, “Give us a king like other nations have.” 

They did not want his sons, and I think this might have hurt Samuel’s feeling just a little.  I don’t know for sure, but Samuel may have just cried out something like “God, why are these people doing this to me.” That’s what I would probably say. I think God’s answer might have surprised him a little.  

“But the Lord told him, ‘Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king. They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. “1 Samuel 8:7-8 CSB

God said this is nothing new. They are not doing anything to you they haven’t already done to me. You feel rejected? They have rejected me repeatedly. They are abandoning you? How many times have they abandoned their faith in me? This made me stop and consider how I react to what is happening to me and around me. What the world, governments, or people do or say to me is not new; it’s not unique. God has already been there, experienced that, felt that – forgiven that. 

Dear friend, whatever your hurt is today, give it to the one can comfort, heal, and support you like no one else – because He has already been there.