Are You Missing It? God Is Doing A New Thing

• I am so glad that you’ve joined me today. I’m believing that God’s going to speak to you through his word and that you are going to be equipped and empowered to fulfill your God-given purpose. Now, Nick and I have been traveling extensively over the past couple of years.
• And we’re seeing God move on the earth in every continent in ways that we only once dreamed of and and prayed for. Now, there’s no doubt that the world is full of so much pain and chaos and division and suffering and justice and hopelessness. But I do want you to know that in the midst of it all, God is moving. People are being saved. People are being delivered and healed and set free.
• God is doing a brand new thing on the earth because it’s a brand new day and our world is desperate. So with that, let’s dive into today’s passage in Isaiah 43 14-19. The scripture says, “This is what the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says, “Because of you, I will send an army to Babylon and bring all of them as fugitives, even in the Chaldans, in the ships in which they rejoice.
• I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king.” This is what the Lord says. who makes a way in the sea and a path through raging water. Who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty one together. They lie down, they do not rise again. They are extinguished, put out like a wick. Do not remember the past events.
• Pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new. Even now, it’s coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. Now, Isaiah had prophesied this about 100 years before God’s people had gone into 70 years of Babylonian captivity because of their idolatry and their disobedience.
• God knew that they would need encouragement and hope in their future because they were going to be in times of despair and hopelessness and that these very words, these prophetic words from Isaiah would provide that hope for them. Now, after Isaiah prophesied the defeat of Babylon in this passage, God introduces himself in verse 15 as the God who makes a way in the sea and a path through raging water.
• Now, can you imagine how hopeless the situation would have looked to those that existed in Babylonian captivity? They would have wondered if they would ever have been set free and given the opportunity to go home to Jerusalem. Now, in the same way, you and I, we’ve all lived in times where we’ve wondered if if a particular situation that we were facing was ever going to change.
• Was there any way out? We’ve cried out to God and we’ve wondered, does he even hear us or does he see us? We’ve wondered if that healing was ever going to really happen or if that person that we’ve been praying for was ever going to get saved or if that child would ever be free from their bondage or if that marriage was ever going to be restored and have a breakthrough or maybe even if we’re ever going to get married.
• I think every single one of us can end up feeling hopeless and helpless as our faith reaches that breaking point. Now, that’s why we just like the Israelites in Babylonian captivity need to be reminded time and time again that God makes a way through our impossible situations. Now, I want to remind you today that our God is a way maker. He doesn’t look for a way out of something.