New; God's Way!

New; God's Way!

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19 KJV

The Context:

The entire chapter is a study in God's grace and mercy, His forgiveness of sins and redemption, not just because the people deserved it, but because it is in His nature to show mercy. Like it has always been said, God hates sin and will punish it, no matter in whom it is found. Israel had sinned and now found itself in bondage to Babylon. Sin robs you of your place in God. Sin reduces you to a piece of bread. Sin causes separation from God, who cannot look at sin, and even turned His eyes away when His own Son bore the sin of the whole world on Himself at Calvary. If God could deal with His Son this way, what makes us think we will fare any better if we toy with sin? 

I am warned: sin has eternally grave consequences and will lead to temporary separation from God on earth if I do not repent and eternal separation if physical death comes before repentance. The reason why Jesus was made manifest was to show us the way back to the Father. If the destination is with God, you have got to come to Him the way He has prescribed, which is through the Son. Israel was punished for its sin, but God was promising redemption and restoration.

The Message:

With God, as long as a man is alive, He is not totally lost. God tells us here that no matter what had happened in the past, He is able to do something completely different from what the norm is. No matter what the hold of the past is over me, in God, I get a new and fresh start. Let it be known: only in and by God is any of these things possible. It is not by power, might, connection or influence but by the grace of God. It is a new thing, never seen before. If God could make over 7 billion people, each with s different and unique set of fingerprints, He can find over 7 billion ways to solve a single problem. 

And when you get a promise like this, you go back to check and confirm the power and ability of the person making the promise to keep it. This is the One who calls Himself I AM, with eternal relevance no matter the generation. This is the One who laid out a path through the Red Sea so Israel could walk across. He parted the Jordan also. He levelled nations for the sake of His people. He shut the mouths of lions when He needed to speak to Darius; He turned a fiery furnace into an air conditioned room when He needed to speak to Nebuchadnezzar. He brought out Peter from among 16 guards when He wanted to disgrace Herod. He even made a new hand grow out of where the one that was there was withered. Even death, which we see as irreversible, had to change form when the I AM spoke. 

What is that situation that needs to change; the burden that needs to be lifted; the story that needs a new ending; a relocation; fresh insight; an unveiling; revelation of hidden mysteries? Whatever it may be, the secret to knowing what to do, how to do it, and when to do it is all in the I AM. And God says so that you will know I am God, even where it was not possible to do a particular thing, like make rivers flow in the desert, I AM can make it happen. Hagar found water where none existed; Isaac sowed and reaped a hundredfold harvest in the same year; the best messages in Jesus' time from the pulpit of John the Baptist in the wilderness. Who says you need fine clothes, good grammar and a fat bank account to change the course of history? You just need the I AM. The rest - the I AM will supply.

The Response:

Have I met and surrendered to the I AM? Today's extract is a classic example of the certainty of God's power to change things. No man can speak in this manner; only God can. He tells me who He is and what He can do, so that I can make informed decisions about how to respond. And He does not speak like this so I can fold my arms and just make assumptions about my eternal options. He tells me all these things so that I can decide before it is too late. A decision has to be made; there is no room on the fence; in fact there is no fence. You are either all in or all out. All who try to play both sides are called lukewarm and there is only one end to them: spewed out of the Lord's mouth. 

While I have time and opportunity to repent and return to God for restoration, I had better make good use of it. God has done all He can to make the way to Him clear, but He will not go against the exercise of my freewill. Whatever my decision may be, it has to be made soon. We don't have much time;  eternity beckons. His time of favour is here.