Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
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
This has been the LORD’S mantra to me for a couple of weeks now. A new thing, a new thing, a new thing…”
Can’t say I mind it. I’m kind of tired of the old thing. If the LORD spoke this to you, what would it mean?
As I’ve said before, we had a friend who used to say that the physical mirrored the spiritual. It was Laura who cued me in with a simple statement she made while we were at the clothesline one day.
“I’ve seen more butterflies this year than I’ve seen for a long time,” she said.
I was sad for summers prior, yet currently glad, for butterflies symbolize new life to many people.
I have an index card behind my kitchen sink that reads: Things will look drastically different by this time next year. I wrote that last May and looked expectantly for the difference. To my eye, it didn’t come. Did I hear the LORD right? I internalized. Did I hear Him at all? I confess, one day in a fit of hopelessness, I found myself reaching for the index card, to rip it down and throw it away. Then, I paused. A thought suddenly dropped on me: Just because I am not seeing it in the physical – yet – does not mean I will not see it at all. For things happen in the spiritual that I may not see in the physical for some time, but it will have its time.
Don’t believe me? Let’s look at two instances in Daniel. In Daniel chapter 9:20-23, the scripture says while he was yet praying, the angel Gabriel came and told him that as soon as he began to pray, the answer was given and it came straightway. When next he prayed, in Chapter 10, the answer was delayed for 21 days. And yet the LORD told him the same thing: I heard you when first you prayed.
Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; …” Daniel 10:12-13a NKJV
From the first day, your words were heard…
The burden to discern the reason for the delays is ours. We do experience times of resistance from our enemy and spiritual warfare ensues.
Then there is an order of things. In Mark 4:28, we find there is first the blade, then the wheat heads, then the grain ripens. There is a proper succession.
There is also something for our times of desperation, and maybe I have done wrong, but when I felt like I have taken all that I can possibly take, based on Daniel 2:21 and Matthew 24:22, I’ve asked that God would change the season and/or shorten the time of the trial for my sake.
I am sorry if I sound like a broken record, please bear with me. Beloved, has God given you a word? Then hold to it. Do as He says when He says it, and He will do what He said He will do.
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
“For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace; …” Isaiah 55:11-12a NKJV
God's Word Girl 