New Things in a New Decade Requires Renewed Faith

​It’s been over four months of crazy.  Four months since we’ve been able to walk around and see people’s faces.  How did what initially started out as two weeks of quarantine morph into four months of chaos?  Now we’re on the other side and stepping into a brand new world.  A world where everyone tries to maintain a six-foot personal bubble.  A strange landscape of masks, face shields, and sanitizing wipes.  Gone are the days of hugs and handshakes, and in their place are social bubbles and endless Zoom calls.  What is this world coming to?!

​But before we despair and lose hope, we must look to God and His Word and see what He has to say about all of this.  The first thing we find is that none of this took God by surprise.  While we may be reeling from what has happened over the past four months, God has been unfazed.  He saw this coming centuries ago.
 
The verse that keeps coming to my mind as I seek to adjust to this new season is Isaiah 43:18-19.  I sense God whispering it to my soul and declaring it over the different transitions in my life.

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
~Isaiah 43:18-19

​Did you catch what God is saying in this passage?  He said that even though He is the God of the Exodus, the One who parted seas and defeated armies, we should not look to and expect God to do the same thing He has done in the past.  For the Lord declares that He is doing a new thing.  So don’t look for Him in the old ways; He is working in new and different ways.
 
The Hebrew words “nor consider” literally mean “to separate mentally (or distinguish).”  So God is commanding us to mentally separate or distinguish what happened in the past to what is happening now.  We should not create a before and after, a “back then and now” type of philosophy.  God doesn’t compare the past with the present or future.  In fact, God is always future focused.  He doesn’t look back, so neither should we.
 
At the beginning of Isaiah 43, God encouraged us that He will be with us in the fire and through the water.  Therefore, we don’t need to fear.  But rather, we should look for the new path He is making, because God will always make a way forward even when everything seems hopeless.
 
Therefore, as we walk through these uncertain and challenging times, let us learn from this powerful passage and step out in faith, seeking the new thing God is doing.  Don’t return to status quo.  Don’t seek “normal.”  Don’t try to go back to the “good old days.”  God is doing new things, and we don’t want to miss them!
 
Right now, the world seems at an impasse.  It seems that we are doing a complicated dance with COVID-19 and the regulations that come with it.  You may feel like God is not working.  However, I can assure you that God is working during these times.  And as Isaiah 43 says, I perceive that God is about to do some amazing new things as time unfolds.  So don’t look back, but step forward into the future God has with faith, hope, and trust, looking for the new and marvelous things God has in store.   

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​What new things do you perceive God is doing in this new decade?  How have you seen God work through this unique season?