A New Thing :: Deeper Devotion

Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

My wife wakes up at 5:00 in the morning to get ready for work. She’s allowed to show up anywhere between 6:00 and 9:00 am, but she prefers 6:00. I used to think she was crazy, but recently I have been waking up with her. I have discovered that there is an exciting peace and freshness to those quiet morning hours. Often I find myself sitting on the balcony just off our living room. The view is not that great, but it hardly matters… I listen more than I watch.

While reflecting on the word of God one of these mornings, I came across Isaiah 43:19. God was speaking to Israel through the prophet Isaiah and promises to “do something new” if the nation will only be aware of it. That’s when it hit me. Every day is new, every morning that I get up and go through my routine is a fresh day. God takes great pleasure in causing the sun to rise, the dew to appear on the grass, and the birds to sing their songs. Yet, I hurriedly rush through my morning objectives, quickly preparing myself for another scheduled day. I do not believe this is how the Lord intended us to live. My logic argues against it, and when I do happen slow down enough to enjoy the morning, my soul loudly testifies to the same fact: God is continually doing a new thing around us, but we are too busy to notice.

The same is true in so many different aspects of our lives. God does not only create a new day for us each morning, but repeatedly presents us with opportunities to freshly experience Him. When was the last time you observed God doing something new in your life? Only a couple of verses later, God says to Israel, “Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; but you have become weary of Me, O Israel.” (Verse 22). How is your relationship with the Lord? He is a loving and a gracious Father, but this does not excuse our failure to invest more time with Him. Have you become “weary” of Him as Israel did? I pray that this is not the case, but if it is, you would do well to approach His throne once again. When we accepted Christ as the Lord of our lives, it was not His plan for us to inherit such grace and abundance, only to place it on the back shelf of our life. Rather, as the Apostle Paul suggests, we should make Christ our reason for living. If we do, I promise you that your eyes will be opened to the wonderful creations God intends to do for you each and every day of your life.

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