Isaiah 43:18-19: “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? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah’s writings to the children of Israel came at a bleak period of their history. They are in captivity, they have lost everything they thought they would keep forever, they are far from home, they are far from where God wants them to be!
When Isaiah went to speak with the people of Israel on behalf of God, they were stuck, they were out of energy, they were on spiritual empty.
We know what’s that like don’t we? We know what it’s like to be trapped, to be stuck, to be on empty. Maybe it’s not as literal for us as Israel, but we’ve been trapped financially, we’ve been a prisoner of our own sin, we’ve been drained by circumstances.
In other words, we’ve all been where Israel is in this story, knowing that there is more to life but unable to get from point A to point B for some reason.
To such a people, to Israel to you and to me today – Isaiah proclaims that God wants to do something NEW!
And notice, I think think this absolutely key, the first thing Isaiah says to these people (to you and to me today) is – if you want to know the new thing God is doing, the first thing you must do is — QUIT LOOKING BEHIND START LOOKING HEAD v.18
- You Cannot Depend Upon Past Victories to Sustain you
- You Cannot Depend Upon Past Failures to Tap you
God is holding out a hand of hope. He is in effect saying: Forget about your past — I am giving you an opportunity to start over.
So often God is working but we are blind! God is trying to do something new, but we’re trapped in our past with no imaginations for the new work God wants to author in us!
Isaiah tells us today to “forget all the former things of yesterday” – because God is already in tomorrow working out his will to do a new and wondrous work in you!
Here is a question for you today: “What do you see when you view your life?”
- Do you see problems or hope?
- Do you see a troubled past or a promising future?
- Do you see impossibilities or possibilities?
Notice what God said:
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
The children of Israel had a choice. They could look at their past and the problems of their present, or they could focus upon what God wanted to do in their lives.
If you want to see what God wants to do in your life … you must see yourself as God sees you!
I have a couple of verses I want to share with you -
Romans 8:1,2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Colossians 1:21,22 21And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight
God has this incredible ability to see past our junk, to see past our problems, to see past our sin – and to see all that we could be if we put Him in the center of our lives!
And that is what God sees, when He looks at you. He sees all you could be with Him!
So … you can put aside your fears that your unlovable! You can put aside your fears that your life is too messed up for God to use. You can put all that away, because it’s just excuses.
I believe with all my heart today, that God has something new that He wants to do in each and every one of us! God has something new that He wants to do in you even if you don’t know Him yet, even if you’ve never prayed. But, God also has something new he wants to do in each of us, who have known him for years and have prayed thousands of times.
God isn’t finished with any of us yet!
