Streams in the Desert

Isaiah 43:19 ~ 

“Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

Chapters 38-55 of Isaiah record how King Hezekiah turned disastrously from the way of faith to the way of works. He has a personal health crisis and he receives a double promise from the Lord – a promise of healing and a promise of deliverance for his city. But having been healed and given a huge sign in confirmation, he turned from trusting the Lord’s promises to seeking deliverance from Assyria by making an alliance with Babylon. So Isaiah pronounces God’s judgment on Hezekiah and basically tells him that since he chose Babylon that is where he will go. 

But was that the end? Were all the promises of a great coming David (the Messiah) to be forfeited by one wrong choice? No. There is an immediate message of comfort and the Lord’s answer to sin is the revelation of the coming “Servant of the Lord” which we know to be the Messiah, Jesus. 

Chapter 43 gives a reminder of the how the Lord is blessing His people and this entire chapter is one of comfort and encouragement. He reminds them over and over again throughout this chapter of who He is. He reminds them repeatedly that they are His people and they are not to be afraid. He reminds them of how precious they are in His sight and then He tells them to forget about the hard and difficult things of the past and look to the new thing He is about to do. 

Here God affirms that he was the God of the Exodus, but he also asserts the wonderful freshness of his new act. He had made a way through the waters; now he would make a new way – through the desert! 

And that same message is for us today. No matter what you have faced in your past. No matter what difficulties you are facing now. No matter how you may have messed up in your life, God makes a way. He provides forgiveness and refreshment and renewal. He creates new paths in the desert. He takes our broken pieces and restores them and makes them whole. 

And that is the wonderful message of the Redeemer. He creates new paths and takes our mess and turns it into a message.  

God is the God of new things. He doesn’t always work the same way in the present that He did in the past. He is a God who enjoys a challenge and doing something in a unique and new way. 

We often get stuck in the past – our own personal past, another person’s past or an organization’s past. Unlike God, we think if something worked the first time that we need to keep on doing it that way. I’ve met so many women in my many years of ministry who talk about what they used to do in the past. They are so busy looking backwards that they forget that God wants to do something with them right now and in a new way. 

As an individual, don’t get stuck in the past. If you’ve struggled with a certain sin or are stuck feeling like you’ve messed up and there is no way to move forward, know that God forgives us when we ask for forgiveness. He can use you despite your mistakes. He wants you to use your life for His glory. 

Look forward with expectation. Thank God for your past and the ways He has led you here. Move forward into a new thing He has for you.