Scripture Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21 (ESV)
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing 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. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:16-21).
Brief Thoughts on the Sermon:
As we begin 2026 together, this passage calls us to something deeper than new habits or fresh starts. Israel stands in an in-between season—not in Egypt anymore, not yet home—unsure of what the future holds. They keep looking backward to their greatest moment, the Exodus, and God honors that memory… but then he tells them not to live there. He announces that he is doing something new: not a repeat, not a restoration, but a work they have never seen before.
The danger for Israel (and for us) is that spiritual memory can slowly replace spiritual movement. We treasure what God has done, but if we cling to yesterday, we can miss what he’s doing now. God’s question still presses on the church at the start of this year: Do you not perceive it? Faith is not merely believing in what God has done; it is recognizing what God is doing now and following him into it.
0 Comments