What do Twenty20 cricket and Ancient Israel have in common?
by Jane Mueller
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But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine’ (Isaiah 43:1).
Read Isaiah 43:1–7
On this day in 2005, Aussies saw something new at the Western Australian Cricket Association ground in Perth: the very first Australian Twenty20 cricket match. Traditionalists scoffed. After all, cricket was a gentleman’s game of patience and strategy, not coloured shirts, roaring crowds and fireworks. Yet the game changed. It was fast, bright and captivating. Twenty20 brought new audiences to an old sport. Reinvention breathed fresh life into cricket.
God’s words through Isaiah also speak of reinvention. Israel had been battered by exile. Its identity was fractured. But God declared, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.’ God wasn’t abandoning the covenant – Israel’s story wasn’t over. The God who never lets go was renewing the covenant and reshaping Israel’s story.
We live in a world that thrives on reinvention, but often leaves us exhausted as we constantly update, rebrand and hustle for relevance. The reinvention God offers is different. He doesn’t demand that we remake ourselves to earn his love. Instead, he renames us, claims us and redeems us. Our identity is secure. ‘You are mine.’
Let that sink in.
You are his.
Just as Twenty20 reshaped cricket without erasing its heart, God reshapes our lives without discarding who we are. He takes what is weary, fractured or stuck, and breathes new Spirit-filled energy into it. We are called by name into a story of belonging and purpose.
When fear rises – fear of change, of failure, of the unknown – remember that God has already called you by name. You belong. Your life is not defined by exile or loss, but by the redeeming love of the one who says, ‘You are mine’.
Redeeming God, thank you for calling me by name. When fear rises in me today – whether small or large – guide me to pause and whisper aloud, ‘I am yours. I belong to you.’ Let this confession quiet my fear and steady my steps. Amen.
Jane is a former Lutheran school principal and now serves as Governance Leadership Director for Lutheran Education SA, NT & WA. Jane has a keen interest in psychology, enjoys hiking and loves learning about and trying new things.
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