God Give Us Eyes to see

Things aren’t what always what you expect

Have you ever missed something because it came in a way you didn’t expect? Perhaps it was or is something that varies from the way things have always been done. In our current pandemic I have seen God work in ways I didn’t expect. I have seen new ways of being the church, new ways of gathering together and worshipping together.

-Pandemic Pizza

-Virtual gatherings

-House churches

Through this pandemic we have seen others dwell too much on the importance of the church building because that is what has always been done in the past. We have effectively painted our worship of God into 4 walls, on one specific day at a specific time. Not that these things aren’t important, but if we hold to tightly too them we can miss the new thing God is doing among right in front of us.

As we wrestle with Isaiah 43:19 It is important to remember the solid bedrock is salvation. Almighty God has saved, is saving, and will always save his people. If we focus too much on the way God has saved, we can miss the new thing God is already doing. How is God in and through his people going to communicate the message of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ to a new generation?

The challenge for us today is this “Behold I am doing something new! Do you see it?” May God through the indwelling Holy Spirit give us eyes to see the new things He is already doing right in front of us. Let’s join in the work.

God is doing Something New

-Babylonian Exile around 589bc Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed God’s people were carried off into what we know as the Babylonian exile, seeing the smoke rise from the ashes of Jerusalem and its temple. For the people carried off into exile this was no less witnessing the destruction of the House of God.

It is against the backdrop of the Babylonian exile that Isaiah delivers God’s words for his people.

After some time in exile the people of God needed to be reminded in Isaiah 43 how God has saved his people in the past, he has not forgotten his people in their present cirmcumstances but still is their savior.

Isaiah 43:1–3 NLT

1 But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

God through Isaiah reminds his people time and again that he is their savior. He reminds the people of his saving acts through out their history and promises that he is saving his people again.

Which brings us to our passage today.

God reminds his people of his saving acts in parting the Red Sea. Reminding how he completely destroyed those who once enslaved His people. Then suddenly God tells his people to forget all that. Why? Because it is nothing like what he is doing and what he is going to do to save his people once again.

Through out Israel’s history and ours God has always saved his people in ways that are not humanly imagineable. Why is God telling his people to forget or not dwell on what he has done? Because if we dwell to deeply on what God has historically done we as human beings begin to hold him to those same ways, causing his people to miss the new ways he is saving his people. Causing God’s next question.

The message for God’s people is this despite your current situation, despite witnessing the utter destruction of your city, and seeing the destruction of the house of God. I am still with you and still your savior. I am about to do something and have already begun. Do you see it?

The people in exile have been so focused on what God has done that when he was doing a new unexpected thing that only God can do they couldn’t see it. The generation of the exile was a much different generation that came out of Egypt. Even the generation that come through the 40 years of wilderness wanderings was a different generation. Salvation came to each of those generations differently, whether it be God parting the Red Sea, or mana and quail as God sustaining his people through their wilderness wanderings. Now God is saving his people again from their 70 years exile in Babylon and his people don’t see it. Why? Because they are too concerned with the way things had been done.

The Good news is this that God ultimately saved his people once again and brought them back to their home. Under Nehemiah the city walls were rebuilt, the second temple was built and God redeemed, saved his people once again.

This is Good News!

God in his grace, love and mercy saved us his people once again through our Lord Jesus Christ. In our present circumstances, surrounded by a pandemic, limited in how we can gather as a church, how we can gather around the Thanksgiving table this year, we are reminded that through all this God is still saving his people.

For every generation the way God communicates his saving grace is new. Whether it be through pandemic pizza, whether it be through online virtual church services, or through the simple house church the message of God’s salvation is still going out.

If we the people of God unintentionally place God in a box, 4 walls and a steeple, because of the way things have been done we will miss the new things God is already doing.

Brothers and sisters we the people of God today have a distinct advantage that those in exile didn’t have, that those who couldn’t see Jesus as the Messiah in his day didn’t have. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit working in and through us giving us eyes to see what God is doing in our communities.

1 Corinthians 2:6–9 NLT

6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Almighty God who we can boldly call our Father give us eyes to see the new thing you are doing right in front of us, and give us willing spirits to join in the work of your saving grace for all humanity.