God has been very clear about Israel’s dependence on idols, false gods. He is angry, disgusted, and exhausted by their habitual falling after them.
He tells them how He will purify them and change their ways. He tells them how He will bring them back into the land and that He will change this about them.
To help them gain hope and put their trust in His ability to do it, He says:
Isaiah 43:16–17
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:
He reminds them of His awesome power to conquer, take them back to the Red Sea, and give them total victory over the most powerful nation on earth at that time.
God can do it! He can conquer and never rise again.
So He tells them:
Isaiah 43:18–19
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 desert
and streams in the wasteland.
God’s counsel to us today: “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.”
The past sins, habits, and the things we know we should not be depending on. The things we think we can’t let go of. The things that seem to have an impossible grip or even control over our lives.
God says: “See, I am doing a new thing!”
Feeling like it is impossible to move ahead? To overcome? To let go?
“Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.”
We come to the One who can and the One who is able. The One who has conquered before, and He is making a new thing in us.
I am reminded of
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
The Israelites never worshipped idols again after their return from Babylon.
God is making us new as we follow Him.
Let us “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”
Let us place our hope in Him and let Him make a way in dessert and make us new.
