Isaiah 65:17-20

Isaiah 65:17-20
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Have you ever cooked a meal and felt like there was something missing but you couldn't quite place your finger on it?  You could tell that it wasn't right, and it felt like one ingredient could set it straight, but for the life of you it was impossible to put your finger on exactly what was missing.
  Humanity is so often at that same point.  We know that things aren't right -- there is a prevailing sense that things aren't as they should be.  Politicians try to capitalize on this by pointing to various solutions, building on the angst, but the solutions they point to aren't what will truly fix the problems that have plagued humanity for millenia.  We have a problem with sin, and things just aren't how they should be.  Relationships are broken.  We desire the wrong things.  Our relationship with the  natural world is not as it should be.  We are selfish.
  So what is the solution?  It can only come from outside of us -- God creates anew, a new heaven and a new earth, and all that is old is wiped away, gone, forgotten.  What is new is beautiful and whole and at rest.  It's the sense of Shalom the Bible discusses -- a wholeness, a completeness.  This is what God promises, and we won't search or be hungry -- in Him we shall be satisfied!