16 This is what the Lord says—
Isaiah 43:16-21 NIV
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.
I am emotionally exhausted. What a crazy world we are living in!
I struggled early on today with just existing and working and doing normal things. It seems I have been on the phone with friends more now, then when the covid social distancing first started. We have been angry and yelling together, crying together, and praying together! I still feel helpless – but I can see and hear and stand together in love.
As I was making dinner – I broke down and just prayed in the spirit – which turned into moaning and humming. Oh Lord – oh Lord – move! Yep, when I finally spoke I told God to move! I told these mountainous obstacles to move. I told division to move. I told covid to move! I told that spirit of fear that came in with covid to move! I told that spirit of riots and chaos that came after George Floyd’s murder, to move! I told racism to move! I told…
I did a lot of talking, or yelling and moaning. I excitedly typed “move” into my concordance – I am going to study this! I am running around like a boss and telling everything under the sun to move so let me find my verse – my promise! Of course there is the mustard seed faith that moves mountains (Matthew 17:20) – what else we got?! I want something with God moving!
And somehow I ended up in Isaiah 43. Lets read verses 16 and 17 again: “16 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”
Oh yes! God moving! My mind is now racing with all the glorious times when God moved. Remember the exodus from Egypt? Remember the burning bush? Oh remember fire from heaven that consumed the burnt offering?! OOoo let’s see Almighty move!!!!
Then verse 18 stopped me in my tracks!
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”
Oof! I got ahead of myself and behind all at the same time. Take a pause. Ok Lord, please speak to me. I’ll shut up now.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (verse 19)
Honestly, I feel it. Something is happening. I know the Lord is moving behind the scenes. I know the Lord is still in control. But I do not know what it is – oh because it is new!
“I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Oh wait a minute God, I live in a city and it sounds like you are moving me into a wilderness and wasteland. Oh. “move”. You mean me. I ran around moving everything and it’s my turn to move.
But I am not to sure about the wilderness – I mean wild animals and all that. And what will I drink?
“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.”
I guess the Israelites spent a lot of time in the wilderness. Elijah spent a lot of time in the wilderness. John the Baptist spent a lot of time in the wilderness. I guess I could to.
Wait a minute – “I am doing a new thing”! Those examples were done before. And suddenly we all realize how this applies to right now.
All around our urban landscapes and reaching deep into every pocket of this nation we are in some stage of the ‘lock-down’ and covid-19 threat – and there are racial tensions. Then there are all the other crazy things happening around the world. It’s wild. Literally. It is becoming the wilderness and wasteland.
“I am making a way”
The wildness honors Him – those who know he provides.
And he provides “drink” – living waters to His people!
And a final little note – we are created to proclaim His praise.
- This is going to be new and different.
- Keep your peace because God went ahead of us to make a way.
- All of this will work out in such a way, we will proclaim His praise and He will be gloried!
Maybe we were created for such a time as this? (Ester 4:14)
Today, a friend of mine asked me a few questions, ones that stopped everyone else who she asked. They are almost unanswerable. She asked: where do we go from here? What is the next step? How do we fix it?
I said we go to the prayer closet; our next step is out to save souls; and we don’t fix it – God does. God is still in control – and God is good. He isn’t any less good today than He was before the death of Mr. Floyd and the riots. He is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow.
It may be turning into a wilderness or wasteland – but he has a plan and he is still in control.
Its probably good to take note, as well, that we are fighting principalities and powers – That there is an agenda behind all of this. We should pray it is exposed. We should be wise and not get swept up in the evil plan. It is good to have righteous indignation and cautious that we do not slip into hate, evil or crimes.
The game has changed, yes. But God is doing a new thing!
Black lives matter.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!
~Grace be with you ~
~Thank you for reading ~ Be healthy and blessed ~
~ Watch and Pray ~
If Not For Grace 