Can You Perceive It?

This morning’s passage comes from Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43 was written to the people of God at a time in which they were in exile under the Babylonians. This was a time of isolation and of difficulty. It was marked by loss of hope, a loss of future, and of losing faith in God.

It’s in the midst of this discouraging picture that Isaiah steps onto the scene.

He brings encouraging words from God for a people who were lost and felt forsaken. Read these familiar words:

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But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

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That sounds like good news! It sounds like God’s going to offer us protection. He’s going to see us through this. He’s going to bring us out!

I love this passage because it is so real to life. You see, God never says that the fire will never come. He doesn’t say that the waters won’t need to be cross. He doesn’t say that rivers won’t block our paths. God never says that.

Instead, God says: the fires going to come, the rivers going to need to be crossed, the waters going to come up to your neck. But fear not for I will be with you! The water will not sweep over you! The flames will not set you ablaze!

God can’t promise us that life is going to be easy, but he can promise us that we will not be overcome, but instead his peace, his hope, his deliverance is always within reach.

But God continues speaking. Read with me:

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This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17 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: 18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 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. 20 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, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

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Forget the former things! Forget them! What’s in the past is in the past. Our God is moving forward! He has a new plan, a new direction, a new hope, a new promise for you! Our relationship with God can never grow stale or old. Why? Because he’s always doing something new! The minute that you stop seeking that new thing that God is doing is the minute you stop seeking God!

He’s working in new ways, using new people, making new things, treading new paths, using new tools, engagion with creation in new ways. Too often, I’m afraid that we get stuck in the past that we fail to see what new things God is doing!

Now, I’m not talking about singing out of hymns versus words on the screen, I’m talking about Christ’s people growing content with the way things are. I get stuck in the way my life looks, and what I do and what I’m comfortable with.

And God asks a crucial question in this verse: I’m doing a new thing, it springs us, do you perceive it?

I’m afraid that while we may be standing here, God’s twelve steps ahead doing somethings new that he wants you to be a part of. But we are failing to forget the former thigs and instead see the new things that are springing up! We cannot perceive the new things because we are failing to step out into what God is doing.

I’m convinced that the beginning of this passage from Isaiah 43 and the verse we read now are connected. Maybe the reason we are walking through the fire, through the river, and through the water, is because that’s where God’s new work is found. Maybe we look in the fires of crisis because God’s is working and moving in the midst. Maybe we stray into rivers of suffering because there God’s crying out with those who suffering and he’s there to offer comfort and peace. And maybe we step into the waters of anxiety because the new things God wants to do cannot be pulled from our strength.

But the good news that Isaiah tell us is that when we step into the fire of crisis, the river of suffering and the waters of anxiety, in search of the new thing that God is doing, we will not be burned, we will not be swept away, because God is with us.

Behold! I’m doing a new thing but can you perceive it?