See God's New Thing! (Isaiah 43:16-21) Series

The blueprint approach to the Bible doesn't result in God's people feeling comforted. It results in them gaining zeal, with them wanting God to do a new thing now, with God wanting to partner with them now. God is in the business of making a way, where there is no way. God is in the business of drowning his enemies, and fighting for his people. The God who rescued his people from Egypt, is the same God who is rescuing them from Babylon. And this God, is the one who will rescue us from our Babylons (cf. my Revelation series).

So that's the first thing I'd like to leave you with today. Read the Bible like a blueprint, as a record of what's possible today, and not as a historical record of what God used to do. The Bible should stir you up, and not lull you into a comfortable nap.

The second thing I'd like you encourage you to think about, is how to think about your own history with God. On a family vacation a couple years ago, we passed through the little town of Lemmon, South Dakota. And apparently in Lemmon, a few decades ago, a massive revival broke out at a charismatic church in town. God showed up in a big way. People saw tall warrior angels in the church, during the services. There were healings, and signs, and wonders. The lady who told me about all of this, did so with a mixture of happiness and sadness. She looked back on her life, and the life of her church, and she could see what God had done for them in the past, when God was fully, bigly present.

And many of us have stories like that. We can look back to a time when we were younger, when we saw God do great things, and when God partnered with us to do great things. We remember a time when we were overwhelmed with God's favor and blessing. We remember a time when we had great faith and courage, and we took enormous risks.

And at some point along the way, did we lose that? Did we get sloppy spiritually? Did we take in our own history as spiritual chicken noodle soup, and now we've comfortably settled in to mediocrity? There's a way that we can look at our own history, and what God did for us in the past, in a way that's toxic, and crippling, and makes it very difficult for God to do new things now. Let me reread part of verse 18-19:

(18) "May you not call to mind the first things,

while the former things, may you not look closely at (1 Kings 3:21)/consider with full attention (Job 23:15).

(19) LOOK! I am doing a new thing!

Now it sprouts!

Do you not know/acknowledge it?

I'm getting the strong sense that God is doing something new in town. Lots of people are talking about it. No one quite seems to know, at this point, what that new thing is, or what it will end up producing. At this point, all we see is this little baby plant. But let me just encourage you to be careful how you remember the past. Don't take comfort in the Bible, reading it as a historical record of what God used to do. Don't live in the past, taking comfort in what God used to do through you, and for you. Keep your eyes open, and be ready for God's new thing. And let God know that you want in. You want to be God's faithful servant, and play a role in whatever that thing is.