Isaiah 43:16-21 The Message
16-21 This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can’t get up;
they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sunbaked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Sometimes… truthfully, more often than we I believe actually realize, God is wanting to do, reveal, something “new” and yet we’re still stuck in the “old.”
It’s hard at times.
To let go.
It is not so hard at times … refuse to give up any control over what we value, even if what we have valued so highly has pretty much all of lost its shelf life.
Of what’s familiar, and what we know, of what has always worked best for us.
It seems easier to stay “comfortable,” to stay in control, or give the illusion of staying in control, to just keep going with the flow, so not to mess anything up.
But then “new” happens, and it often sends us spiraling, on one big, long loop.
For those adrenaline junkies who 100% love change – “new” is mostly exciting.
For those who don’t like change and 100% resist it- “new” is mostly stressful.
Your home, your family, or workplace if you’re like most, or anyone who thinks and believes far more differently than you is probably a mix of those two traits.
But here’s what I love about God.
Isaiah 55:8-11 The Message
8-11 “I don’t think the way you think.
The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
He always thinks and always works far outside our own finite box of thinking.
He doesn’t always work in the ways that we would have chosen for our “new.”
If we had to have a “new.”
He always sees the big picture.
He always knows what He’s doing.
He always works behind the scenes of life that unfold our every day, in the unexpected places where we can’t always see or understand all the “why’s.”
1 Corinthians 2:9-13The Message
6-10 We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That’s why we have this Scripture text:
No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.
But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.
10-13 The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
So we can trust…that He has our best in mind.
That He’s got our back.
He’s with us right now.
And He’s secured our future too.
Sometimes our “new” comes out of great blessing, new opportunities.
And sometimes it comes through great pain, huge loss.
People move, life happens, decisions are made, many change jobs, kids grow up, and there are times we might go through some really tough struggles.
We may even start to feel cheated.
Like life is unfair.
But it still breathes this truth: God is not finished with our lives yet.
We are still here.
And on a never ending basis, He has great purpose in all that we walk through, even in every life change and season.
Whether we recognize it or not, we’re rubbing shoulders everyday with people that we needed to meet in our “new,” however hard that new thing might be.
We can rest in His care for us.
He knows.
He sees.
He works in ways we do not always “get,” but there’s a special place of peace in our knowing, in our acknowledgment that we don’t have to try to control it all.
By these ancient yet still relevant words from Isaiah 43:18-19 God says we can let go – of the need to figure it all out, and the striving to make things happen.
We can trust Him.
Our future awaits, and there’s still good around the bend. God has more in store.
Intersecting Faith and Life – The Joy of Forgetting
Isaiah 43:18-19 Easy-to-Read Version
18 So don’t remember what happened in earlier times. Don’t think about what happened a long time ago, 19 because I am doing something new! Now you will grow like a new plant. Surely you know this is true. I will even make a road in the desert, and rivers will flow through that dry land.
Do you like new stuff?
Many of us do.
Part of the excitement for kids as they open presents at Christmas or on their birthday is that they’re getting something new and hopefully more exciting.
Older family members may get excited about new clothing, a new vehicle, or new tools for the workshop, even the fresh smell of new carpet in their home.
Yes, we like new things.
But, and it bears to be repeated that it’s also possible to get stuck in the past.
Some of us may have a nostalgic hope that we can recover the “good old days,” and others of us may be locked face to face with a past we simply can’t escape.
Maybe we feel stuck by the circumstances of a broken home, made bad financial choices, stuck on sins we now regret, or of an injustice that has been done to us.
Though Christians do not and should not ever ignore the hardcore lessons of their past, Isaiah 43:18-19, faith in Christ always challenges us to look forward.
Our goal is not and should not be exclusively “change for the sake of change,” as if instantly new things by themselves could give us 1% hope and fulfillment.
But these ancient yet always relevant words from Isaiah 43:18-19 reminds us of the only One who brings lasting change: “I am doing a new thing!” God says.
Take a photograph of the old stuff and frame it because we can each find joy in forgetting our past only when our future rests on the change Christ works in us.
Philippians 3:13-14 The Message
Focused on the Goal
12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
The years are gone, finished, past.
We cannot reclaim them nor can we undo them.
We cannot, should not rest on the great distance those years have brought us.
If and when tomorrow dawns, and we exercise our lungs to breathe, it will be another day, a new opportunity, and the time to show our faith in Jesus as Lord.
It is God’s gift of a new day Let’s journey forward, knowing our God already inhabits the future, promises to provide us refreshment on our journey there.
Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we can experience the joy of forgetting our sinful past (Philippians 3:13-14) pressing on as new people in Jesus Christ.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 40 The Message
40 1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God.
At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to God.
4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”
ignore what the world worships;
The world’s a huge stockpile
of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
compares to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
account for you.
6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
that’s not what you’re after.
Being religious, acting pious—
that’s not what you’re asking for.
You’ve opened my ears
so I can listen.
7-8 So I answered, “I’m coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I’m coming to the party
you’re throwing for me.”
That’s when God’s Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.
9-10 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation,
I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn’t keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn’t keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story.
11-12 Now God, don’t hold out on me,
don’t hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
are all that keeps me together.
When troubles ganged up on me,
a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
I couldn’t see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.
13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
hurry and get me some help,
So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
will be heckled and disgraced,
So those who pray for my ruin
will be booed and jeered without mercy.
16-17 But all who are hunting for you—
oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you’re all about
tell the world you’re great and not quitting.
And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing:
make something of me.
You can do it; you’ve got what it takes—
but God, don’t put it off.
God of all Creation, God of new beginnings, thank you for a fresh start in Christ. Help us to leave behind our sin and to live joyfully for him. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 