O my soul,
Do you worry that the Lord’s will may be thwarted by those who have failed to perceive the new thing that he is doing?
Consider this.
Thus says the LORD,
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
― Isaiah 43:16a, 18-19
O my soul, are you excited about the new thing that the Lord is doing, because he is indeed doing just that. Are you thirsty for it? The desert is a such a thirsty place but he will make rivers flow there. And he will make a way where there is no way, in this wilderness of unlove. Hallelujah! Hallelujah indeed!
And have you noticed something? Have you noticed the most interesting of timings?⸺those events which have just happened to coincide so as to clear the way for this new thing? This new thing is so heralded, trumpeted by the very angels. And all apparently so very imminent.
And yet at the same time are you not discomfited by the prospect of defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory by those who have not perceived this new thing that the Lord is doing and are standing in the way of it, blocking it from happening, because they are so very busy looking for something else?
And do you somehow see inevitability in this, a tragedy unfolding inexorably? Are you already grieving over that coming defeat even in advance of it being realised? Do you anticipate that the Lord’s perfect plans will in fact be thwarted? Are you even now weeping over it?
Well then stop that. Put aside your sense of impending doom and listen instead to the psalmist.
Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!
― Psalm 31:23-24
Be strong and let your heart take courage, and pay attention to what the Lord is and is not saying. Did you somehow hear, behold, I am trying to do a new thing if only they would let me? How could you have heard that? Wake up! Wake up and unblock your ears! This is the Almighty Creator God of the Universe. There is no try. Do or not do, that is all. Praise him! And rest in that sure knowledge with peace and confidence.
Now there’s something else here, something interesting. Notice the command to remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Is this about leaving behind our own failure and shame? Well yes of course, it’s always about that.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
― 2 Corinthians 5:17
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
― Colossians 1:13-14
But here in Isaiah there’s something else which is so interesting. Let’s hear the whole of it.
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.”
― Isaiah 43:16-18
These particular former things are the Lord’s parting of the Red Sea so the Israelites could pass safely and escape from their oppressors.
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.
― Exodus 14:30-31
So here are past events of miraculous deliverance by the Lord. But do not dwell on these⸺the Lord will not part the waters again. Do not long for the miracle of yesterday for it is no longer needed. In our own time we need an entirely new miracle and it is this that the Lord will do, a new thing.
And some will not perceive this new thing. Jesus said as much.
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’
― Luke 5:37-39
The Lord is doing a new thing and yet still some will say the old is good. Expect this.
And in your not remembering, take care to remember. We must not expect a repeat of yesterday’s miracle, but we must remember the person and character of God. Hear the Lord speaking through Isaiah again.
Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
― Isaiah 46:8-11
Remember not but remember. Only three chapters later, is Isaiah contradicting himself? By no means!
O my soul, you simply must remember who God is and what he has done. Marvel at the intricacy of his plans and purposes, the multiple and concurrent factors at play: a bird of prey from the east, a man of his counsel from a far country. And he will do it. What he has purposed he will do.
But do not expect him merely to do what he did before. Today he is doing a new thing because today almost everything is different. Almost.
Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors.
― Isaiah 46:8
Those who went before us were wretched sinners and so are we. May we never forget that. And may we never forget how the Lord deals with such.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
― 1 Timothy 1:15a
O my soul, rejoice that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, rest confidently in his sufficiency, marvel at the intricacy of the Lord’s perfect plans and purposes, this new thing that he is already doing, and praise him with your whole heart! 🙏