Lenten Devotional - Good Friday

Scripture: Isaiah 43:15-21

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isa. 43:18-19)

  Methodist preacher Charles W. Allen was once asked, "What is the number one problem you have had to deal with over the years of your ministry?" Without hesitating, Allen answered, "The number one problem I have had to deal with is the mistaken notion so many people have that God is mad at them." As long, as people see themselves as being victims of an angry God, neither God nor his church will ever be a thing for them.

  Isaiah reveals, however, that God's first inclination is love. God is always coming up with new ways to redeem us and to set us right, just as God is going about the work of setting his creation right. God doesn't do old things; God does new things.

  In verses 16-17, God offers his people a reminder of when a similar sort of thing happened. They are reminded of the deliverance of God's people out of slavery in Egypt. God is giving them a snapshot of their ancestors. "Hey, this is what I did for my people in the past!" The Lord made "a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters" for his people to escape their Egyptian oppressors and then "extinguished" their pursuers "like a wick." The same God who did that thing will be the God who will do a new thing by leading the people again out of slavery and exile back to the land God promised them.

  In each new generation, God is doing something new, because in each generation they find new ways to hold themselves in bondage. Deliverance from slavery was a thing, but so was the fact that the people had exchanged slavery in Egypt for the slavery of their own self-serving desires. In many ways, the wilderness was the hardscrabble road that represented God's judgment on his people. Today, people are held in bondage by money, possessions, alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.

  Getting God's people out of Babylon will be another wilderness experience, but it will be a very different kind of thing. "I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert," says God (v. 19). To give up whatever may hold us in bondage, often involves a wilderness journey where God can “do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it.” (v. 19)

  It's good for us to look back and remember what God has done for us in the past, even when that past is marked and marred by our disobedience to God. We've all walked our version of the wilderness road, focusing on "things" that run counter to God's way for us. But, we also need to recognize that God doesn't want us to dwell on that past, but, rather, seek out the new thing God is up to in our lives. God's faithfulness remains consistent, even when our faithfulness wavers.

Lee McDermott, Contributor

Remember in Prayer: Our ability to see God’s grace alive and well around us.

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