BEHOLD, I WILL DO A NEW THING

We often act as though we have figured God all out.  We expect for Him to operate only in certain ways that we are accustomed to.  As He has moved for us in the past, so we expect for Him to move now and in the future.  Often, however, He chooses methods that are totally unexpected to us, and we are forced to think of God in ways we never have before.  At such times the ground under us may seem unstable, and we are forced to walk by faith rather than by sight.  This is good, though.  Without such changes in our lives we will not have opportunities to grow and to learn that it is He that is leading us, and not the reverse.

 

When the Apostle Peter saw Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a stormy sea (see Matthew 14:22-32), it shattered all of Peter’s usual conceptions about the Lord.  He was forced to question whether this was really the One that he thought he had known up to now - “Lord, if it be Thou…”.  With one word from Jesus, however, Peter was prepared to jump into the water and walk out to His Lord!  Jesus wanted to refocus Peter’s attention from the storm, the boat, and his own fears, and place it solely on Him, the Master of the sea.  The disciples thought that the boat was their salvation.  They thought that as long as they could control the boat, they could control the storm’s outcome.  This is what they had done many times in the past.  This time was different, though.  God had a different lesson for them to learn.  They didn’t even need a boat!  God could give them power to walk on the waves just as He did!  Talk about thinking outside the box!  Or should we say outside the boat!  The possibility of such a thing was outside the scope of their imagination, but not of God’s.  This is why they needed to learn to keep their eyes on the Lord.  Follow Him.  Trust in Him.  He was moving in ways that were new to them.

 

Change can be scary for sure.  It shakes us from our status quo, and causes us to question what we believe and what we don’t.  At such times it may seem like our very foundations are being rattled like with a great earthquake, but God’s intention is to strengthen and stretch our trust in Him.  When Paul and Silas found themselves locked up in a Philippian dungeon, it wasn’t an angel that God chose to send to unlock the doors and gates as He had when Peter was imprisoned.  It was an earthquake!  This was something new, something unexpected; but it accomplished just what God intended.  His servants were set free, and the jailor and his family were converted to the faith.  An earthquake can be a fearsome, uncontrollable force, but in God’s hands it can also become a surgical instrument to accomplish His will in the lives of His people. 

 

Recently, a dear brother shared some verses from the Book of Daniel that made me think of how God often works in ways that are new and unlooked for.  In chapter three, we read of three young Hebrew men who had refused to bow down and worship an image that the King of Babylon had made of himself.  The King’s councilors had put him up to demanding that whoever would not worship the image would be thrown into a fiery furnace and burned alive.  The three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, were God fearing men, and they knew that they could not bow down to a graven image of any sort.  When the king was informed of this, they were brought before him, and he demanded that they comply.  Their words to the King were firm, and their resolve was steadfast.  They said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.  If it be so [if we are to be cast in the fire if we don’t comply], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not [if God doesn’t deliver us], be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18).  These young men had great courage in the Lord, but they could see only two options: either God would deliver them from the furnace and from the wrath of the King, or they would perish in the flames because they were not about to bend.  Life’s paths often come down to these two things: “…if it be so…” and “…but if not…”  Either God will deliver us altogether from our trouble, or He will not.  But God is never bound by the limitations that we put on Him.  In the case of these young Hebrews, God chose to do a new thing: rather than deliver them FROM the fire, He delivered them IN the fire.  When the King’s men led these Hebrews to the mouth of the furnace and threw them in, those servants of the King were slain just by the intensity of the flames at the opening!  Our three heroes, though, were cast into the flames, and were not scorched or singed in any way.  They were given the power to withstand the heat and survive!  Not even the smell of the smoke was on any of them!  The real miracle was that a fourth man was seen walking through the flames with them, and that man was described as being “like the Son of God”!  Also, these young men went into the furnace bound by their tormentors, but once inside, the flames burned their bonds and they were loosed!  Isaiah the Prophet spoke these words concerning the fiery trials that we, too, must often face, “…when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isaiah 43:2).

 

What God did for these young men was unexpected.  It was beyond what they could ask or even think.  Yet, it was in God’s heart all along.  We, too, must learn to trust that God has a path for us through every trial that we face.  His way may not be what we are used to, or what we are looking for; but it will be glorious in the end.  We will find that He was walking with us in the midst of the flames all along!  “But the God of all grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10).

 

During the midst of the 70 years that the Jews spent in Babylonian captivity, God spoke to His servant Isaiah and said, “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.  Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?  I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.  The beast of the field shall honour Me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen.” (Isaiah 43:18-20). 

 

The Israelites were in Babylon because of their idolatry and disobedience to the Law of the LORD.  God had allowed His people to be defeated by the King of Babylon, and the armies had come and pillaged, burned, and destroyed Jerusalem, the Holy City.  Many Israelites were then led away by their enemies to inhabit cities across Mesopotamia.  The LORD had told His people, however, that after 70 years they would return to their homeland: “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” (Jeremiah 29:10).  It was in Babylon, though, that God chose to work so many great miracles and signs to encourage and bless His people.  Besides the three who were saved in the fiery furnace, there was Daniel and his deliverance in the lion’s den, and Esther and Mordecai whom God used to bring salvation to the Jews scattered across the Kingdom of Babylon.

 

Truly, it was a new thing that God was doing.  He was making a way for His people in the wilderness, and providing water for them in the desert.  In the very places and circumstances of our lives where we don’t think that life can exist, that’s where God chooses to give “…waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen.”  Jesus is our Fountain of Living Waters.  He is the Rock that brought forth waters for His people when they wandered through Sinai, and He will be the Living Waters that sustain us when we pass through the deserts in our lives.  Never fear.  New ways are not bad ways.  Every thread that He chooses to weave into the tapestry of our lives has its purpose.  We may not be able to see it right away, but God knows what He is doing. 

 

During Israel’s captivity, God spoke these words by Jeremiah the prophet, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. (Jeremiah 29:4-7).  Rather than rebel against the situation in which God had placed them, the LORD was admonishing His people to embrace it for now.  Build houses, plant gardens, have children, and allow God to increase you in this place rather than diminish you. Be fruitful in the Lord!  It is possible for us to become stubborn and bitter when God refuses to move like we expect Him to.  When, instead, we must learn to seek peace in the place where God has us right now, and pray that He be glorified in us as we abide here.  Then we will learn to have peace in ourselves and wait patiently for Him.

 

Jeremiah continues, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14).  God knows exactly what He is doing.  He knows His own thoughts concerning you and me.  He doesn’t need our help to figure it out.  He has an expectation of how things will turn out with us.  His are thoughts of peace for us, and not evil.  When we can learn to rest in the arms of our heavenly Father, and trust Him with what He allows into our lives, then our prayers will become powerful, and we will know that He hears us.  When we search for God with all our hearts, then we will find Him.

 

I once heard a preacher say that “God will not change our circumstances until He changes us.”  I believe that to be true.  God determined to allow His people to go into captivity for 70 years.  What they chose to do with the 70 years was up to them.  They could learn to find peace with God, or they could adamantly resist God and die the same people they were before God began to deal with them.  They had lost their Promised Land through disobedience and idolatry, but God was willing to restore it if they would obey and learn to trust Him.    

 

Is God doing a new thing in your life?  Learn to embrace it.  He knows the thoughts that He thinks toward you.  You can trust Him.  Even Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered, and we should expect no less.  God will be glorified, and we will be set free, but it might be in the fiery furnace, in the lion’s den, or in the desert that it happens.  Let Him have His way.  Just learn to follow.  We can’t begin to comprehend the ways that God is willing to move for us.  If we have joy only when things are going smoothly for us, then perhaps we need to examine the source of that joy.  On the other hand, when we can learn to rejoice in our trials, then we know we have tapped into the True Vine Who is the source of all our life and joy!  

 

“Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.  Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20, 21).