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Isaiah 43:18-19

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5 February, 2025

5

FEB

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 wilderness and streams in the wasteland.


TO PONDER:

Necessity is the mother of invention. It is also the mother of adaptation.  We saw that when Covid-19 hit.  There were hands-free door openers created that could be 3-D printed, face masks made out of air-conditioning filters.  Companies and people needed to pivot, to change, to adapt.  Even churches were forced to innovate and use the technology for reaching and connecting with people. It was a challenging and exciting shift, and an amazing missional opportunity.  

Change is constant and yet our unchanging God continues to speak through his Word into our changing times to give clarity and direction. Take these verses from Isaiah for example. They were written at a time when Judah was suffering under Babylonian exile. The people were wavering, discouraged and stuck in the past, pining for what they once had. Through the prophet Isaiah, God reminds them of his great works in the past – when he made a way through the Red Sea for the people to cross through safely. He reminds them how he defeated the power of the Egyptians so that they could trust that he would do the same with the Babylonians. Then he says something extraordinary - forget all those things, it’s nothing compared to what I am going to do.  Look forward people with expectation of the new thing I’m going to do. To top it off, he gives them a promise - between the past and the future, in times where you are in the wilderness of struggle, I will protect and guide you in the present journey and lead you to the new thing I am doing.

What an encouragement for us in these times as we transition from a Pastor who has been with us for 18 years to a new season of ministry.  It’s time to start dreaming…to be creative.  To look around and see the ‘new thing’ that God is going to do through his faithful people.  That’s exciting!?  Keep your eyes open and your hearts responsive to what God reveals in these days…for you are a critical part of a new thing he is doing. 


PRAYER:

Lord God, take our minds and think through them, take our imaginations and flow through them, take our dreaming and be creative through them, that we may be a part of the new thing you are doing in and through your Church in these times.  Amen.