Hail The New

Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

-Isaiah 43:19

God is doing something new.  You can miss it.  God is providing a way.

God is doing something.  But to experience it, we must see it.  If our eyes are shut or we do not look, we will not see it.

God is active.  We first have to get our minds around the idea that God is always on the move.  God is not just the God of the past.

God is also not just the God of of the past and of the future.  God is the God of the present.  He came and is here now.

God is doing something.  We should be looking for what God is doing today.  We are too often fixated on what God did and will do.

God is doing something today.  He is doing something new today.  He is not changing the past, but doing something new in the present.

God has always been actively working among people to help them.  Before Christ, God's people got in trouble, faced enemies and fell into sins.  God both saved people outside Israel, bringing them in and also worked with Israel in bondage, getting them out, when they had lost their way.

The context of Isaiah 43 is a message to Israel, who is in Babylonian bondage.  God is going to show the whole world, again that He is the Savior and the one God.

God is going to deliver his people from their sins.  And God's initiative comes from himself and not because of anything good in the people.  That grace, love, favor, mercy and kindness was true of God in ancient times and is still true today.

We need to see the new thing. We need to hail it. The new is here and we need to give it recognition.

The word says:

Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

-Isaiah 43:19

The idea that I see in this verse is that God does new things for our benefit.  He does the new things because God is active and creative.  He moves to move us closer to him, his mission and for his glory.

We can miss it.  The first word, 'look' means 'pay attention'.  The old King James says, "Behold".  It means 'see' or 'watch closely'.  There is a 'preacher-ism' or a phrase preachers say that is, "watch this", and it means, "listen carefully to what I am about to say", or "pay attention", or "listen up".

We are more distracted than ever.  We have to make an effort to see what God is doing.  We have to make an effort to see it and hear it.

Do you know that song that says, "Did you hear the mountains tremble?"  The point is that you can easily miss it, if you are not paying attention.  A friend of mine came home one day and put a blanket over her tv to remind herself to give her attentions to God more.

The thing that God is about to do and is already beginning to do is like making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  The symbology of this means that God is going to do something that seems impossible and is impossible, but for not for him.

Being at the end of your rope and being tempted to feel hopeless means you need God and that is super good.  Being upset about things not working in your life and having tension and lack of peace about things is a good thing because it means you need God.  You need God's move, God's way and God to make a way for you where there seems to be no way and to provide sustenance for you where there is none.

The problems and the 'it does not work' and signs or pointers to God giving you a gift of a new way.  We want to be in the place of contentment in Father's lap, being his kids and being taken care of by him.  We do not want to be in the place of proud, smug self-satisfaction that says to God, "I've got this".

The message is that God is alive.  He is here now.  He is on the move.

God is doing a new thing.  Creating, renewing, revitalizing and refreshing has always been God's business.  The question is, "Will we avail ourselves to God's continual renewal?"

God is making a way by doing a new thing.  Same God, same Jesus and the same Holy Spirit; but a new to you way that will be a way where the way seemed impossible and sustenance where there seemed to be none.

Will you take God up on the offer?  Will you pay attention, look and see?  Will you lay down your preconceptions and prejudices and let God show you something and bring you into something New?

Will you let God move?  Will you let God change things in your life?  After you see it, will you walk into it and drink from it?

Will you let God be God?  Will you let your heavenly Father take care of you and lead you?  Will you serve Jesus by letting him lead you in a new way than the way you have walked before?

Jesus is still calling to his disciples, "Follow me".  Will you follow him into the unknown, off your map and out of your comfort zone?  Will you let him save you and keep you, renew you, wash you and comfort you?

Will you step into the place of discipleship where you know him and he knows you?  Your savior is coming to save you in your life right now, in the problems you are facing.  He is Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.

Prepare the house of your life for his coming to make a way for you.  Decorate your house for a celebration of God's gift to you.  Begin to be glad with great joy that God is coming and already here, to make a way in your life.

See what God has already done for you and be thankful.  Get your heart ready to receive more.

Listen to the joyful and thankful people in your life tell their stories of what God has done for them.  Let them encourage you.

Let go of your past.  Let go of your disappointments.  Release any bitterness.

Do not define your life today by the failures and missed opportunities in your past.  Do not wallow in your misfortunes.  Instead, see every liability or negative on your sheet as a place where God is going to move.

Cultivate a revelation of God as being beyond your wildest imagination and dreams, in his goodness and love for you that he will show you.  God's very nature is kindness: love and generosity.  If you have a very low or small revelation of God this way, look and even stare at him to get it in your heart just how good that God is.

Share the goodness of God and let your stories be an encouragement to others.  The life is meant to be lived with God and with one another.  Whether you have one friend or confidant or many, share your story.

The whole life is about God's story and then our stories and sharing them so that we can know and be know, love and be loved and then share, share and share some more.

On the new road, the new way and in the new thing from God, there will be opposition from people and from the dark spirits.  There will be bad weather on the new road, guaranteed.  Regardless of the push-back, keep walking, keep believing and keep worshipping with your life, giving thanks in all circumstances.

The opposition is a sign that you are indeed on God's path and that God is with you and you are with God.  Sing aloud to God on the new path when the enemy opposes you, and find a partner or partners to sing with and give the enemy a hard time back.

Here is the song that inspired me for this message: