A NEW THING
Isaiah 43:18-19 (KJV)
18Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
As Isaiah writes prophetically to Israel, they were mired in the desperate circumstances of captivity and exile. God wants to put their eyes on the new work He will do, so it begins with a reminder to not remember the former things. If they are stuck in the failure and sin and discouragement of the past, they will never go forward to the new thing God has for them.
Staying stuck in the past can keep us from the new thing God wants to do. If Israel stayed stuck in the discouragement and seduction of Babylon, they would never look for the new thing of release from exile.
God asks the same question today. “Will you stay in step with My Spirit? When He leads into something new, shall you not know it?”
Between the captivity in Babylon and the return to Israel lay hundreds of miles of wilderness. God’s people didn’t need to be afraid because God would make a road in the wilderness, provide rivers in the desert, and even protect His people from animals, because the beast of the field will honor Me, the LORD says.
Often, when God makes a promise, we worry about the details or the obstacles for the fulfillment of the promise. God replies to us, “Don’t worry about it at all. I will even make a road in the wilderness. I have resources and plans you don’t know about. Leave those problems to Me.”
Today, God is sending forth a promise of hope that can only be received when we choose to let go and forget the past and receive what He has now has in store for us.
Just like the children of Israel, we too have a choice. We could meditate on our past or we could focus upon what God wants to do in and through our lives now and in the future.
How will we respond to God’s promise concerning our future?
Let go and forget the past in order to receive the promise! Is this where you are mentally and spiritually on today?
Pastor Christopher A. Cleveland
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