I see a classroom full of young students. The teacher is commanding their attention as she prepares to teach them a new game.

Teacher: Children, Let’s play a game.

She has them push their desks to the sides of the room. (Three to the left. Three to the right. Three to the back. In the shape of a large U, creating open space in the middle.)

After they did that, they lined up in the middle. Three rows of three.

Me (of what I am seeing): Oh, I remember this class. It’s recess time. But instead of going outside, the children will play indoors.

Teacher: Children, for Bible Study today we will play a game.

Me: Bible study? I thought it was recess. LOL. Ok I’m ready to see how this unfolds.

Even in play there are teachable moments.

Teacher: The game we will play today is called Follow the Leader. Here are the instructions for how to play this game:

Teacher: In Follow The Leader, the way we play this game is we have to do exactly what the leader is doing. Children, who is the leader?

All hands goes up and the teacher calls upon the students who proceeds to quote from God’s Word what they learned about the Leader.

One student answers:

10 And do not be called leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ. – Matthew 23:10 NASB

Another student adds:

This Jesus is the stone which was despised and rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief Cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved [for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation].” – Acts 4:11-12 AMP

Teacher: very good class. Now I have a new verse for you to remember.

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. – 1 Peter 2:21NIV

Teacher: so the name of the game we are going to play is called Follow the Leader.

Now everyday during the course of the day the teacher has the children get up and they begin to play this game of Follow the Leader. 

It was simply a way for them to break the monotony of study while still learning.

But this day was different.

The teacher calls the class to order and then she has her students rearrange their desks again. This time in the shape of a V.

The children begin whispering amongst themselves, “I wonder what new game she is going to teach us now “

The teacher heard them, but didn’t say anything. When the students finished arranging their desks in the V shape, she had each stand by their desks.

Teacher: Class let’s play Follow the Leader again.

The students immediately begin to try to get into the positions that they use to stand in when formerly playing the game, but found that they couldn’t. It wasn’t enough room.

Teacher: Class, take your bibles out and turn to Isaiah 43. Stand and prepare to read together verses 8-10 and 14-19.

The class obediently returns to their desks to get their bibles and they start to read.

"Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf. 

All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. 

Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things?

 Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”

“You are my witnesses, ” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. 

Before me no god was formed, 
nor will there be one after me.

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

 “For your sake I will send to Babylon 
and bring down as fugitives 
all the Babylonians, 
in the ships in which they took pride.

I am the Lord,
 your Holy One, 
Israel’s Creator,
your King. 

”This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea, 
a path through the mighty waters,

who drew out the chariots and horses, 
the army and reinforcements together, 

and they lay there,
 never to rise again,
 extinguished,
 snuffed out like a wick:

“Forget the former things; 
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing! 
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. - Isaiah 43:8-10,14-19 NIV

Teacher: (with  emphasis) “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

The children looked at one another, still not quite understanding that they were still playing the game of Follow the Leader, but that they were now learning how to shift when the Leader shifts.

Teacher: Class, what game have we been playing?

Class (in unison): Follow the Leader

Teacher: what was the last instruction that you received from the Leader in what we just read.

In unison, the class quotes the prophet Isaiah:

“Forget the former things; 
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing! 
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

Teacher: When following the leader, things will not always LOOK or FEEL the same. When the Leader shifts you have to be ready to shift also. So when the playing field changes,  instead of trying to do things the old way on the new playing field, it is important that you look for the Leader to give the next set of directions.

Psalm 11:3 I still can’t get away from. It’s so potent. It says, when the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Knowing that we are declared righteous by faith, we must recognize that there is still a choice.

It doesn’t matter how many foundations are broken, the choice of the righteous one is still the same – Follow the Leader – Christ.

This requires not that we do things as we have always did it, but instead that we look to the Leader for directions on how to proceed.

We must look to the Leader first for directions so that we can follow, otherwise we might find ourselves taking a path that the Leader is not on. (We don’t want to do that.)

[ I want to pause here to interject this reminder:  The Parable of the Lost Sheep is one of the parables of Jesus. It appears in the Gospels of Matthew (Matthew 18:12–14) and Luke (Luke 15:3–7). It is about a shepherd who leaves his flock of ninety-nine sheep in order to find the one which is lost. Also 2 Timothy 2:19 and John 10:14 reminds us that our Heavenly Father knows who belongs to HIM. So if you find yourself lost, or if you feel like you are off the path of the Leader, simply cry out for him in prayer. He will hear you and come for you. His promise is that no one will be left behind as seen in the parable of the lost sheep. ]

Now, let’s get back to playing Follow the Leader…

The very scripture that started me on this journey of writing was Hebrews 8:7-13.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. ” By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Hebrews 8:7-13 NIV