"Behold I will make all things new"

So, its 1.1.10 ... its a new year ... what does a new year mean to you?

New year often comes with lots of new hope, expectations ... new resolutions (like some people bersemangat want to spent more time studying, less on-lining .... pengsan ... wonder how long will that last) ... some will want to wear something new (like I know of someone who wants to wear the thing that i bought for her from my CMai trip) .... yes ... many of us want new things on a new year .... new hope, new dreams, new breakthroughs ... new path ..... new life ... new relationship (??) ..... and the new must come in the package of good if not better than what we had or experienced last year.

And some of us will find that God has been giving Isaiah 43 : 18-19 over and over again every other year .... ("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 desert and streams in the wasteland.) And if God is giving you this verse again this year .... let me encourage you to really pause and be still ..... open your ears wide-wide and ask God what is the new thing that He really want to do in your life.

2 thoughts :

1. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?
Many times when we get such a new .... we super happy ... cos in our mind, God is removing all the pain, the ugliness, the disappointments, the bad experiences .... all the negative things from our life and putting ALL good if not better things in our path. Now, I am not saying that God will not .... and God does not mean that. But I am sure that it does not mean that we receive this promise expecting God to remove all our pain, hurts, ugliness, disappointments,nightmares of life and replace it with all good and nice things right away or over night ....

God is a God of NOW! Emmanuel God with us .... and God is with us now .... He can and will do new things .... right now .... right this moment ..... God will work and do something new in our current situation,no matter what situation we are in ... working through our pain and sufferings, working through our tears, our broken hearts, our broken dreams .... our broken hopes ....

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."Isaiah 55 :8-9

We cannot BOX God us and say ... do the NEW thing in my life this way .. that way .... God's ways are not our and His thoughts is sooooooo much higher than ours ... He is God, we are mere man from dust, created by Him. Where were we when He called the stars in place and formed the mountains? So, who are we to tell God what and how to do the NEW thing in our lives? If you felt that God has not done the thing in your life as He has promised, remember Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Take heart, God is still working and know what He is doing in your life.. ask Him to show you from His perspectives ... reveal to you the new thing in the mist of your sufferings that He is doing ... He is doing my friends, He is still working ... remember Don Moen's song?

"God will make a way where there seems to be no way,
He works in ways that we cannot see, He will make a way for me"

2. Forget the former .....
Often we jump or move from verse 18 to claim and hang on to verse 19 .... do we realise that in the first place, God ask us to forget the former things, do not dwell in the past?Have we done that? Pause for a moment here and think ..... have you let go of the past, not dwell on them, have you forget the former things? The unpleasant things that was spoken to you (or not spoken to you .... cold silence ....), the wrong accusations, the miss understandings, the injustice, unfair treatment, advantage people taken, the emotional and verbal abuses, betrayal, lies spoken ..... the list goes on .....

Henry Nouwen says that the problem with majority of us is that we allow our past which becomes longer & longer each year say to us : You know it all, you have seen it all ... the future will just be another repeat of the past". Echoing his words, I believe that if we cannot forget the former and cannot stop ourselves from dwelling from the past, we will end up in circles -- where the future will be just another repeat of the past" We will end up going round and round .... and may miss the new thing that God is doing in our life because we are still too caught up with the past and the past has blinded our eyes to see the new thing that God is doing or putting in our path NOW .... or we cannot fully embrace the NEW that God is going .... and struggle in our journey ...

Every year, we store a lot of things in our mind, emotions, body and soul ... and with each pass year, the things stored gets bigger and bigger .... not dealt, unloaded bad experiences may slow us down, may even stop our journey ..... and may even explode and splatter all over... will blind our eyes from seeing the NEW that God is doing in the NOW of our lives .... we cannot perceive the NEW thing ....

At the dawn of a new year, pray that all of us will take time to sit at His feet, to take stock of our mind, emotions, soul .. and allow God to reveal, touch, heal, mend and do a new work in our current situation ... our current condition .... our current state ... let the rivers of living waters flow ... let God mend the holes in our jars and let God fill our empty or half full jars once again ...

As I am typing this, I am reminding of myself not to dwell in the past and forget the former .... 2009 has been a challenging year ... the word for me last year was GROWTH and growing up is indeed a painful process. It calls for stretching process .... it calls for testing and molding process .... emotionally, mentally and spiritually .... so that I can grow emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I have to say that it has not been easy but ... I want to let go to move on .... :0 because He is my Alpha and Omega .... my Beginning and my End. Like Paul, I am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day (2 Tim 1:12b) I thank God for every encounter, every experience, every emotion, every situation, every breakthrough, every blessing that He has given me in 2009. I thank Him for everyone that He has given me in my life, especially in 2009, for my parents, my sisters, my brothers, nieces and nephews .... for inner circle of friends, for friends, and for acquaintances that come along the way...

"Behold, I will make all things new!.... It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirst" (Rev 21:5 -6)He is doing a new thing NOW. NOW it springs up. Do you not perceive it?