“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.”

Isaiah 43:18-19

 

When we feel at our worst, when we remember the bad stuff in our lives – things that have happened, things we’ve done – God tells us to forget them. He tells us that all is now in the past. A new day has begun. Through the prophet Isaiah he tells us to look ahead instead – to look to the future. To see what God has in store.

God is working on a plan. Something he’d like to see happen for the good of others. And he wants to involve you. Within your heart and mind you might hear him calling you to join him. The work could be small or it could be big. Whatever it is will be just right for you. Throughout your life God has been preparing you for this.

Have you ever been so excited about an idea – about something that God is showing you that needs to happen? And you find yourself hardly able to wait to get started?

But it’s scary too, especially when the plans seem massive in size. Where do you begin? You think to yourself, “How can a small person like me possibly make such big things happen?”

When you think that way – and we all will – you’ve forgotten something. This is not your work, it’s God’s. All you have to do is to provide the hands, the feet, the pen, your voice – ready to pitch in as needed. And you’ll have to bring obedience and trust in the great Maker – the designer of all there is. If you allow him to lead, he’ll take care of the rest. It’s not up to yourself alone.

When you trust God in this way, you’ll be surprised at how courageous you become – how strong. You’ll discover the person God made you to be.

Working with and for God is a bit like trying to walk through the Judean wilderness. This wilderness is not just barren land. It’s made up of jagged steep hills. To make a road, each hill would have to be flattened and the deep gulleys filled in. It might not seem possible, but God can, and will, make roads through seemingly impossible conditions.

The same holds true when trying to create a river in the desert. The only way a river could be formed would be for a miracle to occur, like God’s miracles during Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness. When we are thirsty, God can make water flow in the driest of places.

Jesus himself said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19:26)

God is doing a new thing! Do you perceive it?

marja