This week we are considering what we believe. I recently read a blog form our church that was both encouraging and thought-provoking. I hope it encourages you to see God at work in your life.
"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?" (Isaiah 43:18-19)
I love remembering what God has done - as I look back over my own life, I see the incredible ways God has worked from even before I became a Christian, right up to the present day. Remembering those things reminds me of how God is faithful, good and so much more - I know that to be true. Remembering inspires me, encourages me, but it can also cause me to think the grass is greener back then, and to get stuck in what once was.
But this verse in Isaiah challenges me to not stay remembering who God has been, what God has done, to not 'dwell on the past', but to look and see that God is up to something now.
'See I am doing a new thing, now it springs up; do you not perceive it?'
To perceive means to become aware or conscious of something; come to realise or understand.
It's a bit like having one of those 'lightbulb moments' where suddenly things make sense. Maybe it's happened to you while you were reading a book, or watching a film, or maybe realising someone is related to someone else, or remembering where you know that person from! We all have those moments, and it's like putting the missing piece into a jigsaw puzzle - everything makes sense, you can finally see what's going on.
My prayer for each one of us today is that we would see, that our eyes would be opened to what God is doing, to the new thing, and that we would be able to answer the question, 'Do you not perceive it?', with a confident yes!
Take some time this week to consider the voice and direction of God in your life. Do you perceive it?
