The Dawn of a New Decade

The Dawn of a New Decade God Has Just Begun

 

Isaiah 43: 18-19 "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. (NLT)

 

As we edge closer to a new year and a new decade it is customary to want to look back. Take a long look at 2009 and the past ten years. Ponder the chasm which God has helped you cross. The troubles He has delivered you from. The strength He has developed in you. Take a serious moment and prayerfully consider all that has come and gone in the past ten years. I was saved this decade. I came to God and was reborn in late 2002. God did quite a lot in this decade for me; in spite of me often. I cannot think of the past decade without becoming overwhelmed by the goodness of God. Was everything perfect? Hardly. Were there disappointments, struggles and failures? Absolutely. Amidst the peaks and mountaintops there are always the wilderness and wasteland. You cannot truly appreciate one without the other. But as creatures that tend to live only in the moment, to really take a look at a ten year snapshot at the awesomeness of Almighty God should be overwhelming.

 

In Isaiah 43 we see the Lord recounting some of the great works He had done for Israel. He recounts that He was their Creator and King (verse 15). He then reflects upon one of the greatest acts of deliverance ever recorded in history (verses 16-17). God reminds them of the parting of the Red Sea. Imagine the scene beloved. The armies of Pharaoh are in hot pursuit of the escaping Israelites. Their chariots are almost catching up to them. If caught, certain doom is in store for Israel. Then God:

 

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. Exodus 14: 21-22

 

The movie recreations cannot do justice to the awesome sight this must have been for the nation of Israel. A roaring sea divided and standing to each side of them. Walls of water to the left and the right as they walked through on solid ground. And then when they had all successfully and safely gained passage to the other side, God collapses the walls of water upon the enemies of Israel, wiping them out forever! That is how God delivers still to this day! He will make a way where there seemingly is no way. With our enemies closely behind us, all will seem lost until we call on the name of the Lord. Then the impossible will deliver us and our enemies will be wiped out forever!

 

What a memory for God to be recalling through the Prophet Isaiah to His people. Yet look at what God says next in our key verses above. Forget about what I have already done; wait until you see what I am going to do! And as we leave this year and this decade and wistfully consider all God has done, realize that this promise from God in Isaiah is for us today as well. Considering all He has done for me these past ten years, it is staggering to think that the next ten years will be so dramatically more glorious!

 

Working backwards in the key verses, God promises to create rivers in a dry wasteland. In looking up the meaning of wasteland, I came across this interesting definition: