“See, I Am Doing A New Thing”

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride.

I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.”

This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

“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.

The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

Isaiah 43:14-21

God, through the prophet Isaiah, encouraged Jewish exiles to think about a new beginning. God told them not to remember the old ways. He told them to stop dwelling on their punishment and even on His display of power through the original exodus from Egypt. He wanted their attention to be focused on God who could give them a new beginning by bringing them home from Babylon through a new Exodus.

With God, new beginnings are possible in our hearts. He can help us to let go of the past and start clinging to Him. Relationships with Him provides a new hope for all who will trust Him.

God gives fresh starts from the inside out.

Our Daily Bread – April 12, 2014