Something New

"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."

Isaiah 43:19

One of the hardest parts of following God is that He rarely explains everything before He asks you to trust Him.

When Isaiah wrote these words, God's people were in exile in Babylon — far from home, worn down, wondering if the good days were behind them. And right there, in the middle of the wilderness season, God says something almost reckless with hope: I am doing a new thing. Not "I did." I am. Present tense. Already underway, whether or not you can see it yet.

Look at what comes just before it. In verse 18 God says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past." That's a stunning thing to say to Israel, because "the former things" included the Red Sea — the greatest rescue in their history. God is essentially saying: don't even camp out on the old miracle. I'm not finished. The God who once made a way through the water is now promising to make a way through the wilderness, and to put rivers where there's only been sand.

That's the part worth sitting with. A way in the wilderness. Rivers in the desert. God doesn't just meet you after you've climbed out of the hard place — He makes provision in it. The road shows up in the wasteland. The water shows up in the drought.

We usually want the map before we take the step. We pray for open doors while He's quietly working on our hearts. We ask for clear direction while He's teaching us to walk by faith. But Isaiah 43 wasn't written to people who had it all figured out. It was written to people walking through uncertainty — and the promise held anyway.

Maybe that's exactly what you needed to hear today. You don't have to see the whole river to trust the One who makes it. You just have to take the next faithful step. The God who makes rivers in deserts hasn't changed.

What's one area of your life where you're believing God to do something new?