A Word For Today

 "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43: 18-19

It seems to be part of human nature, but we seem to have great trouble letting go of the past. There is a value in old things which  remind us of where we come from and of how far we have traveled. But there is a gravitational pull of the past that can rob us of better things to come.

The promise of the Gospel is to make things new. 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2Cor.5:17

Is the new thing God does in saving us limited to the salvation experience, or can God make things new going forward too?

The prophet tells us to not remember former things, and to not even consider old things. He calls us to leave the past behind us and to not live there anymore. God knows that we cannot go forward while looking over our shoulder. 

I understand that once we have accomplished something or gained something it is hard to let it go, or to move on from it. We get so involved in our work to preserve our gains that we do not have time or energy to think about something we have not considered yet.

This may be why the third generation sells the farm; they get tired of the same old same old, and they fail to appreciate it like we did. They need something new to happen that will excite them like what happened to us excited us. Not a new or different Gospel or strange fire. But a new experience in the God of the ages.

The prophet tells us that the time is now. Not later, but now. God makes thing where they don't seem to belong. A road in the wilderness, a stream of water in the desert. God makes a nation in a day. And we fail to see beyond what we already know.

Maybe it is up to us who have no stake in the current outcome to ponder what might be next.