SOAP Isaiah 43: Former Things

Former Things  

ISAIAH 43

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? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV

Isaiah 43 compels us to view our experience of God's grace in the past as a springboard so that we view neither present nor future with fear but with expectation.  We can be sure that he is there ALWAYS. Even when there is silence, he is working things for good. He is making a way in the wilderness.

I remember lying in bed paralyzed with fear, uncertainty, and sadness. My circumstances were bad, but I was afraid of how much worse it could get. I cried in the shower, in my car, at my desk and into my pillow at night. I was in an abusive relationship and desperately needed leave. I knew I did. But I was so worried about all the unknowns, what ifs and maybes. I didn’t have faith in myself or anything else really. 

I wish I could go back and hug that girl and tell her how much God was moving in her life. He had people I would meet who helped me heal, he knew I’d find a church home and women who would lift and build me, he knew I’d find a loving and amazing husband. And countless more blessings!

The character of our god has not and will not change. No matter what we are facing, where we have been or what we fear God is good. God’s grace and power have carried us in the past, and will see us through the present and into the future. In times of uncertainty and fear, Isiah 43 encourages us to be alert. Looking for the signs of God’s presence, working to sustain us every day. 

I need him today just as I needed Him those days that I cried feeling scared and stuck. But this got me thinking… Am I walking around as the new creation I am because of what Jesus gave up for me?  Or am I stuck as the former thing- the old me- dwelling in my past and allowing those things to hold me back from true freedom? 

Whatever God carried us through, the battle has been won for us. Jesus' blood was shed and it has been wiped clean!  But am I truly living in this freedom?

Prayer: Jesus, you have made the way for me. No matter what I have been through you have been there for me with and with me!  Even when I felt hopeless, lost and unsure…Your goodness was working all around me in ways I had no idea.  The former things are nothing compared to how I am made new in you.  Today, I pray that I step into the freedom you bought for me and live as the new creation I am! Amen.

I got the tattoo in the photo above on the one-year anniversary after I left my abuser.  It serves as a beautiful reminder that if we take steps in faith freedom lies ahead!