In my life, at the moment I am faced with an impossible situation. In some ways, it feels that all I have been working on with my family has been cut off and I am alone and having to start life from scratch. My best friend that I have had for 26 years has moved on and my daughter has cut herself off. This is quite crushing and has been very hard to deal with.
So I can do two things. I can trust God and choose to look forward or I can be drowned in sadness, anger and self-pity. I have chosen to embrace what has happened and choose to grow through this experience. I am quite excited that God has not only provided for me, But He has also surrounded me with good friends that love, support and encourage me and are helping me to move forward in God and to allow God to use this to grow me and equip me for the things He has me to do.
For this time, God has given me Isaiah 43:18-19. God is doing something that is so good I will not remember the things of the past, but He is going to do a new thing. My marriage has been a wilderness but God is bringing a road or a way through and a spring where good things will flourish and grow. God is doing good things and I can trust Him to do this.
18 “Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 (NKJV)
There are a few verses that teach me to trust God in this situation and show me what to do.
1. God has a good future.
God has a good future and so I have a hope that He will turn around what is happening and bring good out of it. It hurts so much, but it is a stage of transition I am going through and He will not only get me through but there are good things at the end.
Even though now is real, the eternal is what my eyes are fixed on. (The prize)
One thing that I am reminded of is that what is here now is important and real, but what I am looking forward to is the prize of the eternal. This trouble is for a short time and I will not lose my prize in Christ Jesus because of what is done to me. Instead, I will press in with God to grow in Him so I receive all God has for me eternally. My wife and daughter are just here and now. I have eternity with Christ to consider.
2. God is a God of restoration.
This time is coming. The Lord who lives will restore and bring in good things. He will make things new. I will not remember the things of old. They will be in the past.
14 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ Jeremiah 16:14 (NKJV)
God is revealing the hidden things and revealing the things He is doing. This is very exciting. God will be putting together and doing things I did not know would happen. It is exciting. I do not know what He is doing, but I trust in Him for the outcomes!
“You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
Isaiah 48:6 (NKJV)
3. There are new things happening.
God is telling me of the new things He is doing. The former or old things are going to be in the past. God is doing a new thing. He has given hints of what He is doing. He has planned them and they will happen. He has been hinting of what He is doing.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Isaiah 42:9 (NKJV)
God is dealing with old things and He is making things new. I am looking forward to God bringing the new things to pass. He is making ALL things new!
4. The process I am in is making me into a new creation
When I come to Christ He makes me a new creation. I am not the person I was before coming to the Kingdom of God. Old things have passed away and now He is bringing in the new things.
5. God is going to do the impossible
The water came from impossible places. Where it looks impossible God can bring life, refreshing and hope where there seemed there was none.
6. I need to learn to do it God's way and not my way.
Moses here did it his way. God called him to do it but he was angry and said: “Must we bring water from the rock”. This was showing that we have to be careful it is Christ in us and all God’s work. We are not God and should never put ourselves in the place of God. I will choose to do it God's way.
7. I need to get through the difficult times to get the good He has for me to get to the blessing.
This is very interesting. God has to lead us through the difficult times before we get to the water. I suppose we just require faith that the water will come and we push through the hard times to get to the blessings and water.
8. God brings blessing from the impossible.
The streams of water or blessing come from what looks impossible. My situation in my family I struggle with because it is an impossible situation or a rock. God says, though, that He will bring streams of blessings from this impossible situation. I just have to trust in Him and continue to trust Him and do what He says.
9. God wants to talk to me about this and seek Him through this.
Even when God makes a judgement I can talk to Him and He listens. I am not stuck in a situation but know I can talk with God and He hears and even acts on what I speak to Him about.
Hezekiah’s Life Extended
38 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ”
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a [a]loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. 6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” Isaiah 38:1-6 (NKJV)
10. The thing that you feared yesterday is what God will use to bless you today.
When the Israelites were running from Egypt, the water stood in between them and freedom. The water almost caused them to turn back and it almost caused them to be killed. Then in Isaiah 43 we read that God is going to bring water to us in the desert. The thing that we feared is no the thing God is going to use to bless us.
11. God does not do the same thing.
We can damage ourselves by looking at the past and expecting that God will do what He did then, again in our life. In the Bible, we read about Jesus healing people in a different way and not using the same way twice. In your situation, God is going to act in your life differently and so do not be looking at the same place for the blessing that He used last time. Become excited that He will suprise you with what He does. Remember where you came from but how He got you where you need to be forgotten as He will be doing a new thing in your situation and life.
Personal Reflection / Prayer
God, you have placed me in an impossible situation. There is no way blessing can come from such an impossible situation by looking at it with the world’s wisdom. But like getting water from the rock, I trust that You will take me through the scorpions, snakes and dryness to get me to the rock where you will release refreshing and life-giving water. The things I fear you can use to bring amazing blessing. I trust that You will do a new thing in my life. I not only trust You but am excited that you are making things new and good things are going to happen. Thank you! It will be unexpected and come from where I least expect BUT I trust in You! God, there are good things ahead and I cannot wait to see what You will do in my life and my family’s life.