This Day in History: 0000-12-30

December 30 – Isaiah 43:18-20 

But forget all that – it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. The wild animals in the fields will thank Me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert. Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed. 

Our favorite thing about a new year is that it offers us a chance to start over. We can wipe the slate clean, forget all the times we’ve gotten it wrong, and try again with renewed purpose. But the only thing that’s really going to offer us any hope of a different outcome is for us to stop relying on ourselves and to allow GOD to forge the path for us. 

That means we’re going to have to trust Him. But not the kind of trust where we say, “As long as it looks like You’re leading me the way I think I should go, or the way I want to go I’ll follow You.” No, that would be more of the same, and it just doesn’t lead to good places.  

So let’s forget all that – it’s nothing compared to what God wants to do! Let’s release the dreams we thought were meant for us, and let go of the future we wanted so badly, but was never going to be. Let’s surrender everything we’ve desperately tried to control and finally step out in faith onto the path God is laying before us. 

Can’t you see it? He wants to do something new! He wants to take us to places we’d never dare to go on our own. Wonderful places where rivers of living water weave through the wastelands of our lives and offer refreshment to God’s own chosen people. He’s already begun! 

Precious friends, as we spend these last few days preparing for the new year, may we be wholly committed to following Him wherever He leads. Let’s search out His path and resolve to follow wherever it leads! No matter how scary, no matter how difficult, no matter what we may have to give up to do so, it is the only path to a life filled with the love, joy, and peace that comes from the power and presence of His Spirit in each and every moment of our lives!