Fandom: “Wake up on your own, and look around you, cause you’re not alone; let your hopes go, and they’ll survive, ’cause this is the future, and you are alive.” – Owl City, “This is the Future”
Verses: Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 56:8
Nugget: Our hopes and dreams for the future are in good hands with God.
Welcome to another episode of The Gospel According to! This is the perfect song to finish out 2020 and welcome in the new year. With its balance of sadness and optimism, “This is the Future” by Owl City can help reassure us of the future that God has in store for the new year. Enjoy!
2020 still matters.
This will probably (hopefully) be the last time I say this, but it merits saying again: 2020 was a difficult year. It was for me personally, but also for every person alive on this planet in this moment. And what happened this year still matters, even as we try our very best to leave it behind.
The feelings we all have of shock and loss and disappointment and anxiety are all valid. And not only that, but God remembers them. “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” Psalm 56:8. Even as we move forward and go into this new year, we can still acknowledge the lessons we’ve learned, hard as they have been.
“Dive in… and swim away… from your loneliness… and miserable days…”
Here’s another article I found about Psalm 56 🙂
You’re not alone.
As I was listening to this song on repeat (about 1,000 times in a row 😆), I had this image in my brain of people living in star houses waving out the window to each other. “Wake up… on your own… and look around you… ’cause you’re not alone…” Even though we’ve all been isolated, even though we haven’t seen friends and family in months, or haven’t gotten to feel “normal” in forever, the world has been united by this year in ways we never could have imagined. And my prayer is that you’ve been able to find ways to connect with friends and remember that you’re not alone.
This is the future, and God is still in control
Our hopes and dreams for this year, and every year, are in good hands when we give them to God. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 I used to sigh inwardly when someone quoted this verse to me, but let’s look at the words in Hebrew for a moment.
Here’s another post to help you start the new year off right!
Blue Letter Bible translates “welfare” (ESV), but the original word, shalom, means “completeness, soundness, peace; safety, soundness; peace, quiet, friendship.” My pastor describes it as “Everything that makes for a person’s highest good; calm and peace.” That makes me feel so much better about next (this) year. “Let your hopes go… and they’ll survive… ’cause this is the future… and you are aliveeeeee…”
It’s safe to hope, even in the midst of uncertainty. It’s safe to dream, because God already knows what will happen this year, and He’s got our best and highest good at heart.
I hope you’ve been encouraged by this post about “This is the Future” by Owl City. If you did, please do me a solid and share with all your peeps using the graphic below. And let me know your plans and dreams for the new year!
Happy Fangirling!
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