You Can Begin Again

And a path through the mighty waters...18 “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. 19 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."

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How many of you remember the Etch-a-sketch?

The Etch-a-sketch was a little red and gray drawing board full of sand (or at least something like sand)

It had two little knobs at the bottom you used to draw a picture.

It had no digital readouts.

It didn’t beep at you or flash.

It didn’t even take batteries.

And the best thing about it was, if you messed up, all you had to do was shake it a couple of times and you got a totally clean screen---a chance to start all over.

Wouldn’t it be great if life were like an Etch-a-Sketch?

When you mess up you could just shake it and all your mistakes would disappear and you could start all over?

Especially things like that maxed out credit card?

Imagine just being able to pick up the card, shake it a couple of times, and the bill is gone!

But it doesn’t work that way, and neither does life!

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So....What do you do when everything falls apart and you can't erase it?

Your career, your marriage, your dreams...

These things can and do happen to the best of us!

Martin Luther King Jr. ironically wrote just before his death: ‘Shattered dreams are the hallmarks of our mortal lives.’

When this happens, how do you pick up the pieces and begin again?

My message for you today is:

No matter what mistakes you've made, no matter how you've messed things up, or what others or life itself may have done to you, you can still BEGIN AGAIN!

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In our text, Isaiah is speaking to the people of Judah who have languished in Babylonian captivity for 70 long years due to their own sin...

They've been demoralized, discouraged, felt hopeless, lost everything, and wondered if there could possibly be a future for them after all they'd done.

It was almost impossible for them to believe they could start over again, begin a new life, start fresh.

It was to these same people the Prophet Jeremiah wrote my favorite verse:

"I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).

So both of these major prophets are bringing God's word to them saying,

"You can begin again. It's not over. Because you serve a restoring, forgiving God, there is hope for a new future!"

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Now, I want to go back to Isaiah's words to them because he gives clear detail on what we all must do in cooperation with God in order to start over with a fresh, new beginning:

He says that we must first,

Let go of the past

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old."

The word "REMEMBER" here means "call to mind"----Don't keep rehashing the hurts and disappointments of the past, stop hitting the replay button.

And the word "CONSIDER" means "to try to understand something."

He's saying, "Quit beating your head in trying to understand what happened back there that brought so much pain; quit trying to figure it all out."

FOLKS, there are some things you will never be able to understand this side of eternity...

You just have to Let the past go!

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I'm reminded here of the account in Joshua where after 40 long years in the wilderness, the people are ready to cross the Jordan and enter the PL.

And God felt compelled at this crucial juncture to tell Joshua and Israel emphatically something they already knew but were apparently still struggling with: "Moses is dead."

What that meant was--a new day is here.

The old has gone.

God was saying, "you can't live in the past anymore."

And He's the same thing to many of you...

That person that hurt you, they're gone.

That hurtful time, it’s over.

That betrayal, it’s past.

That letdown, it’s done with.

That event that CHANGED you, and SCARRED you, and has DEFINED so much of who you are, it's time to LEAVE IT...Put it behind you!

LISTEN: By the grace of God, you don't have to be a slave of your past....whatever you did or whatever happened to you, Christ has set you free from it! Let it go!

Paul wrote, "I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead..." (Phil 3:13)

You can't reach FORWARD when you're looking BACKWARD!

So Isaiah tells these captives, "Don't remember the former things, nor consider the things of old..."

The first step to beginning again is to LET GO of the past...

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Which leads us right to the second thing Isaiah said for those wanting to begin again, which is...

II. Expect God to act...

"For I am about to do something new. Now it shall spring forth!" (19b)

The original language here actually reads, "It has already begun, don't you see it?"

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But why wouldn't they see it? Why in danger of missing it?

Because sometimes the single biggest obstacle to beginning again is us being able to believe that God also wants that for us!

This was Judah's problem....they had so failed God, and experienced such devastating loss that they struggled to even believe God wanted to give them a fresh start...

But He did!

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LISTEN: The God of new beginnings does new things for His children!

"His compassions fail not, they are NEW every morning, great is His faithfulness" (Lam. 3:22-23).

The Apostle Paul, who had to get beyond an awful past of bloodshed and persecution against the church, wrote:

"Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes" (Eph 3:20).

I love David's words from the Message Bible: "You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing" (Ps. 23:5).

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And back in our text from Isaiah, God seems to be saying, "Open your eyes and look around you...I've already begun and I want you to spot it."

Then He describes how new beginnings begin:

"It shall spring up like the grass springs from the ground; or it shall bud forth like the opening of flower petals."

ILLUS: Just yesterday I was getting my mail and walking back into the house when I noticed tiny little buds beginning to blossom on my bushes out front...barely there but visible anyway.

And I thought, "Spring is here. A new thing is about to happen...winter is passing away and the time of new things, new life, new growth has already begun!

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This is a beautiful picture of how Divine Providence comes to pass, how the hand of God moves to restore!

Things begin to change---new doors start creaking open, fresh opportunities begin to peek around the corner, whispers of hope can be heard saying:

"You can begin again. You can start over! Dare to see and believe it!"

God is telling His people in captivity, and us today,

"I'm not done with you, I haven't washed my hands of you...expect my goodness and mercy to shine on your life!"

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So we must 1.) Let go of the past, 2.) Expect God to act, and third...

III. Step out on God's Word...

Isaiah finishes by saying, "I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert."

Now, if God makes a road, it's useless unless someone steps out and walks on it.

If He makes a river in a desert place, it does no good unless someone steps forward and drinks from it.

This last verse is clearly a call to put feet to faith and step into the new thing God is doing!

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Now we know that in the time frame Isaiah spoke these words, God's people were about to be released by King Cyrus to return to their homeland.

This meant they were now being called to step up to the plate and step out in faith so that they could turn their dream into a reality.

Yet we know from history that only about 40-50,000 captives returned....the majority stayed in captivity!

They had God's forgiveness, they had God's promise, but they didn't step out in faith to taste it's fulfillment, so they never began again.

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But the prophet Jonah did! After running from God and spending 3 days and nights in a whale's belly, he accepted God's forgiveness, expected God to act, and began again, living to see an entire city repent!

Peter did! After his dismal failure of denying Jesus, he accepted Christ's forgiveness, expected Him to act on his behalf, and began again as the great Apostle to the Jews.

Paul did too! After his persecution of the church he accepted Christ's forgiveness, expected Him to act according to His promise, and began again as the Great Apostle Paul!