NEW

I was talking the other day among some other moms and our kids. We were laughing about how we mothers end up knowing most of what our kids get into. It's hard for kids to get away with much we don't either see or hear about. I said, "You know we mamas really do have eyes in the back of our heads." Even as I said it, I felt aware of a truth much deeper than the comment seemed.

That's me. I've been looking backwards most of my life. Living in past regrets. Past failures. Past scenarios where I've messed up, been hurt, or hurt. Even past victories. It's a difficult way to live. Always remembering, and never truly living in the present. Fearful and guarded. Living yesterday.

I've been aware of this for some time. More than some time. A couple of years, I would say. There were times, I'd break away, but something always took me back there to that place. It was my own fault. God's grace and fresh Words were waiting. Even more than waiting. He's been pursuing. I tasted, but never filled. Satisfied in empty places and old ways.

This year is different. It's new. And it's a new "new." I decided that my one word for 2013 was "New." I am journaling verses on "new" this year, so if you're a reader, get ready for lots of NEW!  I am using my Greek/Hebrew Key Word study Bible and writing out verses that can teach me more about what it is and what it looks like to be "new." My focal verse before me every day is this:

"Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold I will do something new. Now, it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert."  Isaiah 43:18-19

Here's what I have discovered in just a few of these words:

Call to mind- to pierce, impress on the memory, recollect, to mention, record.
ponder- to discern, perceive, observe, pay attention, understand to be intelligent, teach, deal wisely. The word does not refer to the mere accumulation of data, but supernatural knowledge.

DO NOT allow the past to be a recording in your mind. Whether it's a past of hurts, fears, and failures. Whether you were the recipient or the active participant. It should not be the soundtrack that we listen to daily. God's forgiveness and grace have covered these! He doesn't dwell on them; why do we? Have you ever thought about how many songs you just know the words to without practicing? There's a joke around our house that I know every word to every song in the 80's, but I can't remember what I did yesterday. If our pasts are the soundtracks in our minds, it's all we recite. Therefore, it's all we will do.

There are many times in scripture we are called to ponder, but in this case it says, "Do NOT..." Why? Look deeper into what ponder means here. Don't try to discern your past as if you know exactly why that happened, why you said this, she/he said that, they did this, ..... How many times do we try to figure out why something happened or play God by trying to explain something we know very little about? Isn't it true that only God knows the details of our pasts? Only He knows why things have happened. Why things have NOT happened. He knows. He alone. Left up to us, we will always figure something out that probably has nothing to do with what God was really doing or wanting to do in the situation. We think we know all the details, but we really don't. Don't try to ponder on our pasts (or anyone else's), when God is God. We are not. All we can know is we have the present right now. A new opportunity. We can't change our past, but we CAN live in our present with hope for today and a new future.

Look what God wants to do....
"Behold I will do something new..."
This word "do" is "asah" and it means, "work, labor, toil, make, create, construct, build, accomplish, acquire, earn, procure, prepare, offer, sacrifice, appoint. It describes the process of refinement-fashioning a created object. It isn't the same as in creation where God made something out of nothing. It's about refining something already made. Us. Me. You.

How many times do we recognize things in our lives, patterns we've had and returned to, and thought, "I'm not going to do that anymore....I'm going to do _____ now."? Only to return to it time and time again. The problem is we've tried to change a pattern with another pattern- on our own. Never recognizing that we do not hold the power to be new. God DOES this. Look at those definitions in what He does again.
Tired? God works.
No resources? God makes.
No plan? God prepares and builds.
Failures? God accomplishes.
Losses? God acquires.
No idea? God appoints.
God has everything I need to be made new. I bring nothing to the table, but messes. He takes these messes though, and refines me. He fashions me into someone new. When He does that, and only when He does that, am I made new. Genuinely new.

Think your messes are too big? Too old? A pattern too often visited? You are not the exception. Look at what else He does...

"I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert."

That word "make" means to set, establish, erect, plant, set down, lay in, constitute, appoint, turn, be put, be set. To put something (you and I) somewhere.

Did you hear that? He will not just refine us; He will point us. These new lives are not just made new. They have a new direction. A purpose. A place. A road. A path.

Sometimes we may be right in the middle of a desert and there seems to be no pathway out. He will make one. He WILL make a way where there seems to be no way. God is not a God of confusion. He wants us to follow Him. He's not into riddles or guesses. He wants His children to be not just believers, but followers. To have active faith walking forward. When you drive on a road, you don't drive backwards. It's always forwards. Can you imagine driving backwards on the interstate? Could you even imagine the consequences? When you walk in the woods down a path, what would happen if you tried to walk backwards? You would trip, get off course, and fall. Sounds so silly, but isn't that what we do when we try living in our pasts? Allowing our pasts to determine our now, or our future? I'm not talking about learning good lessons from our pasts. I'm talking about not allowing who we were to determine who we are...or who we will be. Only God defines that. This passage says that we are being made new. A daily process that God does in our lives. Isn't that encouraging?

It's a forward process. Not one walking backwards. Not one living in the past. One that is filled with His grace and love- mercies new. The same grace and love He extends to you is extended to others. The same grace that enables you to be made new and to walk forward as a new person in Him, enables all of His children to do the same.You can let go of your past. You can let go of those old patterns. You can let go of any sin, addiction, habit, or problem when God is making you new.

As I studied these verses in depth this morning, I was in awe of the Lord. That He would continue to teach me new things about an old verse. I felt deeply loved because it was so personal, too. Instantly, He brought this song to mind, so I put it on and worshiped Him.

Tempted to go backwards?

Hast thou not seen how all thy longings have been granted in what He ordaineth?

Ready to go forwards? Then ponder on the right thing....

Ponder anew what the Almighty can do if with His love He befriend thee!

Praise the Lord!