Tuesday, December 30th

Yesterday, Sam invited us to look back, to see all the ways God has been working, in the celebrations and blessings, as well as in the challenges and hard circumstances. Today and tomorrow, I want us to look ahead. But I want us to look ahead in a different way.

Not in a way of, how do “I” improve myself, how do “I” make life better. I want you to observe these passages and see the invitation of God for something different, something bigger.

Read Isaiah 43:15- 15 “I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.”

Before we read the rest of the passage, I want you to sit with this declaration. God is declaring, He is Lord, Holy One, Creator, and King. Break those declarations down for a moment. He is Lord, He is over all, not you, not me, how do we submit to God as Lord?

He is the Holy One, the one that is set apart, pure, no blemishes, no one like him. He isn’t just another god, he is THE God. How do we live as though He is set part?

He is Creator, not just once, but always creating. What does he need to create in you?

He is King, he rules, he has all authority. How do we live in His authority, not our own? How do we serve the King?

I would challenge you to take time with those declarations, not simply today, but throughout the week and months ahead. If God is declaring this, then how are you living as though God is your Lord, Holy One, Creator and King?

Because notice what he says next?

Isaiah 43:16-19- 16 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: 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 wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

God names how he was faithful in the past, rescuing the Israelites from the Egyptians, through the Red Sea. But he is telling them, you will be rescued again, but not in the same way. I am going to provide a new way, don’t keep looking back for how God is going to work in the same way.

What new thing could he be doing in your life? But this is where we need to pay attention. God is saying, “I am making a way…” This isn’t up to us to make a way, it isn’t in our strength to make something happen.

So many times, we fall for false theology when we someone says, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” I’m sorry, that isn’t true. God will give you more than you can handle when you are trying to do it in your own power or by yourself.

The declaration of who God is and the invitation to do new things means it’s you and God doing it together. As you look ahead, into 2026 and beyond. What do you and God need to do together? What “new thing” does he want to do in your life, around your life, through your life?