A New Thing
Monday, February 8
A New Thing
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19
If there was ever a person that experienced the weariness of human egotism, it was the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. He lived 700 years before Jesus. He saw his once-proud nation Judah as it became a docile client for the vast Babylonian Empire. All because the people would not listen to God. Isaiah’s narrative quoted God as his prophecy recollected the tired hardness history of his nation: “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?” (Isaiah 43:19, New International Version). If only the people would accept and receive the change God was sending their way.
All through the Bible God has used change to catapult people into the new thing He had in mind. Forgetting the old and moving in faith into the new. This is the instruction He gave to Abram to pack up his family and leave his home in Ur to go to a place God would show him (Genesis 12). He was not given a map or even a hint as to where this place would be. Yet, he obeyed God, and became the father of nations and an ancestor to the Messiah, Jesus.
As we continue to live post 2020, circumstances around us have changed significantly and it may require us to step into unknown territory so we can be repositioned for the ‘next’ thing God has prepared for us. Isaiah 1:19 says, ‘If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land’. Abram could have refused to leave his settled, wealthy life in his hometown, Ur. In every case, the ‘known’ thing would have kept these men contained and ineffective in the greater plan God had for them and the generations to come.
While today we have no idea what the future holds, let us agree to step into the unknown with our hearts focused on God. Only God can raise up a new heaven and a new earth. Only God can renew the soul. Whatever hope is, God can make it happen. God, and only God, has the full capacity to give hope credibility.
Pray the following prayer with me……………
Prayer for today: Lord I trust that You know the end from the beginning. Help me to trust in Your wisdom and not my own. Teach me to see difficulties in my life from Your perspective. Through the lens of a believer. Help me to focus on You and Your power. I want to be like Joshua and Caleb who believed in a good report and focused on You even in hard circumstances. Today I bring before You all the difficulties of this life. I continue to live in the unknowns of life post COVID but we will not fear instead we look to You. Help me not to fear but to trust You in this situation. I declare my faith in Your ability to fulfill Your promises to me. You are mighty, powerful, righteous and true. I claim the victory, in Jesus’ Name. Amen