Disruption
Rhegnumi ~ A Greek vivid verb
To break, to burst, to tear
Neither is new wine put into old wineskins.
If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.
Matthew 9:17
Old wine skins lose their flexibility and ability to preserve. New wine skins are needed to preserve both.
The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures) understands disruption as grief, repentance. It is a rending, or tearing of garments. Something new is happening. The Greek word rheghumi (“disruption”), as used throughout the New Testament, conveys the wonderful and disruptive idea that the powerful realities of God’s kingdom that He is revealing to you cannot be contained by your old structures and ways of life.
Let me ask you, what grief, what tearing or breaking, what disruption to an old way of life is happening in your life right now? It may be hard to see or accept, but that very tearing can be a pruning and a removal of the old wineskin, making way for the new that is waiting to be perceived.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43:19
I have been on a journey discovering that there truly is so much NEW that can be learned about the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit has opened my eyes to key truths in ways I haven’t seen before. When that happens, a cascade of revelation can follow as we continue to lean into His Word. Scripture becomes fresh again. Growth and understanding in the Kingdom of God happen – little by little. That new understanding slowly establishes itself as life, and eventually, old structures aren’t flexible enough for these new things. So, they have to go.
It has taken a heart shift to see the new wineskin forming. As a family, we have experienced a deep, painful, grieving, drawn-out disruption over the past year and more. It has become apparent that this disruption of key structures of stability in our family is being used to make room for the new things we have been learning from the Lord. Those truth-things. I want this new wineskin, though I’d much rather it happen another way.
This awareness of the wine and wineskin has taken time. As we have grown more dependent on Him in our need and grief, we are listening more closely, learning to see His hand in the waiting, and becoming more aware of the necessity to go to Jesus for His great supply and perspective rather than reaching out for our own. We have seen our Father use the awful and turn it for good…greater freedom, a growing ability to hear His voice clearly, a developing sharp discernment and greater skill in fighting the spiritual battles we all face. Together, these things are stitching for us those flexible wineskins needed to receive this new wine of the kingdom in ways we haven’t been able to before. It has not been easy, this wine-skin-forming. This last season has been the hardest part of our journey as a family. Yet, in this growing awareness of what the Lord is really doing, we find hope.
These new things that we have been learning require preservation. In English, preservation is a fascinating word. We may have images of canning come to mind, or a bucket of sauerkraut fermenting, or raw wood being sealed with primer and paint. Any act or process of preservation involves keeping something safe. It is then “kept from injury, destruction, or decay; security; safety.” That word preserve in Matthew is the Greek word suntereo, which means “to preserve, keep, maintain, guard closely.” By implication, it means “to conserve from ruin.” That our Father is working all the details of our situation as a new wineskin for the purpose of keeping us from losing the new growth gives us hope – He desires to keep that which we’re learning and growing in and give it time to mature and grow. And in the process, we discover new layers of His ability to be our security and safety that keeps us from injury, destruction or decay.
I admit, I am still wrestling with the Lord over the safety bit. He’s exposed that struggle, and I recognize that this is something I need to keep talking with Him about and allow Him to reveal Himself to all the pain. Yet, I do find hope in knowing that such a disruption isn’t for nothing but has purposes of preservation for our future.
Again, is there a disruption taking place in your life? It may be small but enough to catch your attention, or it may be big enough to rearrange your whole life in painful ways. May you find hope in the painful process. He knows, He is good, and He desires to preserve those amazing kingdom things He’s teaching you in preparation for more. And may we both be assured that in the midst of it all, He’s preserving both of us with this disruption.
Further Study
- Read and reflect on Hebrews 11:1. I’m just beginning to get a sense of what this verse really means. My prayer is: “I have faith in you, Jesus! Help my small faith!”
- Romans 8 is full of new wine. It’s a chapter that addresses hope. It is also rich in truth about condemnation, the mind changed by the Spirit, His life in our bodies, suffering, and God’s goodness at work in our situations. Spend time with this chapter and allow the Spirit to speak fresh truth into your being.
