Making Room for the New

“Lord, I need you to turn this situation around!” I cried out for what seemed like the millionth time. I had been praying for breakthrough, believing for change, and yet it seemed so far out of reach. Then one day during my devotional time while feeling especially hopeless, God brought me to a scripture so familiar I almost passed over it. 

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 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 desert.” -Isaiah 43:18-19

As I read these verses, my focus immediately went to verse 19 and the “new” God was promising.  I wanted that new thing so desperately!  As I read the verse again, I felt the Holy Spirit, nudge me to reread the verse before it. I glossed over it and was about to go back to verse 19 again when I heard the Lord say, “If you want the new, you first have to forget the old.”  That truth began to unfold before me for weeks after that as God showed me all I had to “forget” so I could make room the “new” He wanted to unfold in my life.

Sometimes we want the new that God has for us, yet we’re unwilling to forget or let go of the very things that have kept us stuck where we’re at. God is saying, “forget the former things.” What does He mean? In these verses, God is speaking through Isaiah to Israel during their time of exile. God’s people were crying out for deliverance from Babylon, and it seemed as though they had been abandoned by God. But God NEVER abandons His people and He answers their cry with this very powerful promise of doing something “new.” But preceding the promise is a command to first “forget the old.” What did Israel need to forget? We know Israel had been a people once enslaved by Egypt, only to become free and then later fall to Babylon. 

When God delivered Israel from Egypt. He performed mighty miracles to bring them to freedom but that’s not how freedom would come this time. Our past testimonies serve as powerful reminders to us to believe for our future victories, but we must never put God in a box. “Well, if I just pray, confess some scriptures, and have faith…BOOM! God will do it again just like He did it in the past!” Yes, prayer is vital. Yes, declaring God’s Word is powerful. Yes, faith is key. But God is God. His deliverance isn’t some magic formula. His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours. Higher than our human minds can even comprehend and He will move in our lives as the Almighty powerful God HE is. It may not, and probably will not be just as He did it in the past, because God is always wanting to reveal more of Himself to us.

I believe it’s during our most trying times in life, as we seek God, He reveals Himself to us. In our darkest moments, God has divine strategies for our deliverance. Think of this… in the natural, marching around enemy walls and praising God would seem like a crazy thing to do but that’s how God delivered Jericho to Joshua. It must have sounded insane to Gideon to hold torches and make a racket in the face of a mighty army. And yet, this was very the battle plan that defeated the Midianites. God’s plans for our lives are good, but they are also Divine and we need His guidance every step of the way. While our past victories are meant to encourage us in our faith, we must not allow our past experiences to put God in a box. Just as the Israelites depended on the daily manna in the wilderness, God desires for us to seek Him moment by moment. If we’re so focused on the way God moved in the past, we’ll miss out on His deliverance for today. 

What else do we need to forget? Sometimes it’s our past failures that hold us back. We make our past bigger than God. Friend, God is not impressed by our past. Neither is He limited by our faults or failures. In fact, He tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that old things are passed away and we are now new creations in Christ! When the enemy comes with condemnation let’s tell him where to go! Don’t allow your past to imprison you and keep you from the new God has for you. 

Sometimes we need to “forget” things that have taken the place of God in our lives. Ouch. But let’s be honest. We all have things in our lives that are not God’s best for us. Things we depend on other than God. Things that take up room in our lives and hinder us from having room for what God wants to bring to us. Unhealthy relationships, dependence on things other than God, lies we believe that dictate how we respond in life, unhealthy habits, idols…and the list goes on and on. What is the Holy Spirit nudging you to “forget,” to release to Him and become free of? Don’t settle for those “old things.” God has something new for you!

What are you believing God for? What have you been crying out for Him change in your life? Can it be that He is waiting for you to let go of the old and forget the former things so He can bring you into the new? What things are standing in your way? That day God spoke to me, I realized I didn’t want to delay the new by holding onto the old. Friends, let’s lay those idols on the altar. Let’s put them to death and walk away. Let’s forget the “former things,” because what God has is so much better. As verse 19 tells us, God wants to do that new thing NOW! So let’s be sure to make room for it!