Look! I am about to do a new thing! Now it sprouts! Do you not perceive it? Indeed, I will ⌊make⌋ a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19, LEB)
There is nothing more exciting than the sense of God bringing a new thing into our lives. Can you imagine the sense of excitement that Abraham must have sensed when God told him that He was sending Abraham to a new country, even a country where God would make him a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Yet that new thing had a test and that was offering up his son, his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. And then God did another new thing. This new thing would be a preview of His own dilemma thousands of years later. God had His own test, when His son, His only son, would be required. With Abraham, God provided a lamb in the thicket. With His own son, there was no other lamb, and God knew it. Just the spotless lamb hanging on the cross for all to see. The lamb who was present as co-creator of all there was. But when He came to his own, they did not recognize nor receive Him and He paid the price necessary for all of mankind.
And then there was Moses who was dealing with his own shame by running away from a reputation as a murderer. Raised in Potiphar’s house with a life of ease, yet now hiding in the desert pastures, tending flocks. His own Hebrew brothers were accusing him and he runs and hides for 40 years. From importance to insignificance, yet God saw something in Moses that caused Him to do another new thing. Can you imagine what Moses must have thought when he saw the “new thing” in the dessert. Burning bushes were really nothing new, but when God is in the midst of our ordinary, suddenly it becomes extraordinary. The bush that was afire from the desert heat was no longer being consumed by the fire, but by God’s Presence. God waited to see Moses’ reaction and when Moses turned to observe the bush, God spoke to Moses, promising him a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8) .
And then there was Deborah, called by God as the prophet and judge of Israel. (Judges 4). A new thing because God did not generally call women for such an important role. But God was doing a new thing and God would bring deliverance to Israel in His own way. It was Deborah who summoned Barak and reminded him of God’s call, and it was another woman, Jael, who placed a tent peg into the temple of Sisera, giving Israel the victory. God did not seek the council of His prophets and priests. God will do a new thing, HIs new thing, when He desires to fulfill His Word to His people.
Many such real life stories are recorded in Scripture, yet we tend to forget that God will do a new thing to advance His purpose and plan for the earth and His creation. God did not need to consult anyone when He chose a young shepherd boy as King. Nor did He get man’s opinion when He chose an orphan named Esther to become queen of a pagan nation to save Israel. God did not need a quorum when He chose ignorant fishermen to become great apostles and the ones who would birth the first church. Neither did God consult with the religious elites when He called Saul, a murdering Jew, to become the great apostle Paul.
Do we ever get in the way of God’s new thing in our lives or in His church. Do we allow our religious attitudes to discount the new thing God wants to do? Do we allow ourselves to become disqualified because we just don’t see it God’s way?.
It has been my experience that God’s new thing will cost us something. Abraham had to leave his father’s house and his familiar nation and culture for the new thing. Moses had to overcome his stuttering problem to be the one to fulfill God’s new thing of deliverance to a nation. Deborah was a woman walking outside of her cultural role model. Interestingly, there does not seem to be opposition to Deborah as Barak told her he would not go unless she went with him. And then God lures the enemy into the tent of an unassuming woman named Jael. Jesus paid the greatest price anyone can pay. He laid down His life for His brothers and sisters.
God’s new thing is not just fun and games. It is an assignment with a price tag. It is a stepping stone to a fulfilled plan of God in the earth and a means to fulfill the destiny assigned to our lives.
I’ll ask again. Do we find ourselves warring against God because His new thing is not packaged as we think it should be? Do we discount what God is doing because it does not fit our religious narrative and we cannot make room in our hearts for how God may want to do things or the ones He chooses to use?
God is not looking for ability, but availability. God is looking for those who will leave their father’s house and their familiar culture, if that is required, to be faithful. God is looking for those who will not walk away because a person may not fit the gender mold their religious minds require. God is doing a new thing and He will only consult one person…that is the one He calls. Each one called can say no! Each one called can deny the viability of the calling. Excuses can be made of the many reasons this new thing will not work.
God is doing a new thing. Can you perceive it?
