See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-20
As the people of God we should expect new things, great new things; marvelous new things for that is the nature of the God we serve. Not that God self becomes new, for God is. (Active verb in the present tense). “I am that I am” he said to Moses.
What becomes new is our perception of God. That perception expands, unfolds and becomes new. It is always more than it was, and that is our perception of God. God is infinite, impenetrable so there is always more. As human beings we will be able to perceive new aspects of God, will be able to expand our awareness of God, so that the God we serve and worship today has to our perception been expanded and evolved, from what it used to be previously.
God does the improbable and the impossible – making a way in the desert, and streams in the wasteland. God has always “done a new thing” for the people who are prepared to expect a new thing and who are open to a new thing.
As the year 2010 dawns, many of us are preparing resolutions. “I resolve to improve myself by this, that, or the other thing”, we tell ourselves. Too soon though we forget what we have resolved to do; we lose sight or enthusiasm for our goals and we slip back into old, time-worn habits that bring us the same old results. It is not that we don’t want to change – we do, but we are often not prepared to do what it takes to get the different result or to experience the change we desire. A popular local radio announcer ends his morning show with the following greeting: “Remember if you do what you have always done you will get what you have always got… The change that we desire in our lives must start with us.”
Our perception of life must change if we are to experience the better life that we desire. We are to perceive the new thing that God is doing in order to have a different experience in life. What is it that we want to do? Have? Experience? Achieve?
Now, let’s get one thing straight. We cannot change others. Change is a project that is performed on the self. So it is no use wishing and hoping and thinking and praying that for example, your spouse or partner will change, or that your teacher or boss will change or that your children will change, or your neighbors, or your pastor…
As Jesus our teacher said, we should clean the inside of the cup and the outside will surely be clean. The change occurs inside of us, and is reflected on the outside. I know some are saying I have changed by attitude, change my approach, done everything I know I can do and still things have not changed. To which I say, hang on until the change comes. It is a process, not an event. And when you have made the necessary changes, the situation, circumstances and people around you will change – but be careful what you hope and pray for. Sometimes change does not come to us in the form in which we expect it.
That is the story of many of the people of God – those of us who fail to perceive the new thing that God is doing. We long for change, but when it comes, we fail to perceive it and fail to act on it or in concert with it, so we continue to experience the difficulties and failures that we have become accustomed to. Don’t fall into that trap. Learn to wait patiently on God for as they say in the African American gospel song – “He’s an on-time God, yes he is. He may not come when you want him, but he’ll be there right on time, He’s an on-time God, yes he is.”
Here’s praying that in 2010 we perceive the new things that God is doing and receive them on time – God’s time.