God’s Promise- Something New

Isaiah 43 But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
²When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.

18 “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹See, 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.

I have probably read Isaiah 43 at least fifty times in the last five years, and somehow I never caught what hit me today: the undeniable fact that God’s children went through it—and still, God promised restoration. Not only did God’s children have to live through the chaos of their circumstances, but God was with them in every moment of it. Maybe silently. Maybe unseen. But present.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”
“When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”
“When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.”

God never said his Children wouldn’t face waters or fires. He said those waters wouldn’t drown them and those flames wouldn’t consume them.

I sit here and I think about all the seasons of my own life that felt like rough waters—moments that could have pulled me under. Times when the currents were so strong I lost sight of the direction I wanted to go. I’ve had fire seasons too—moments where it felt like everything around me was reduced to ash. Dreams burned up. Relationships scorched. Foundations I trusted turned to dust. And yet… somehow I was still standing. Still breathing. Not untouched, but not destroyed.

And then I read this text, and it feels like God is saying:
“I know you’ve been through it. I was there. I didn’t let it take you out. But now—listen—there is more.”

You see the wilderness? The wasteland left behind by the floods and fires?
Yes, it’s barren. Yes, it’s broken. But watch what I can do with it.

Let Me restore you.
Let Me rebuild what died while you were still standing.
Let Me do something new…right here, in the middle of the mess.

This post is for the one who is tired—tired of fixing things, controlling things, manipulating life just to make sense of it all. I want to encourage you today to sit with the Holy Spirit and write out a timeline of the “water rushing” and “fire burning” moments in your life—those seasons that felt like they were meant to destroy you.

Bring them to the Father. First and foremost give him thanks for letting you survive them! Ask Him to help you imagine the new that is going to spring up from your wastelands. Because the key to moving forward from this passage is simple and direct:
We must forget the former things and not dwell on them.

Make peace with the fact that you can’t go back and redo the past.
Make peace with the regrets—the “I should have…” and the “If only…” moments.
Make peace with the ways you tried to change it, control it, or make it better.

Forgive the people who participated in those fires.
Do not dwell on it.
Don’t let it linger, or fester, or suffocate the “now.”

Let it go.

PRESS ON!