Isaiah 43:18-19 “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’m making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
I grew up in Oklahoma the first half of my life then Texas the second half. Both experience major storms including tornado’s as we have seen in recent news. I’ve seen many a tornado from a distance and have even experience in being in a small one with my daughter on a camping trip. A very nerve racking experience.
When you find yourself in a situation like that you develop this heightened state of senses that are not normally present. Your hearing is more precise, vision sharper, things sometimes seem to slow down into an almost slow motion state as your mind races to process all of the things that are going on around you in that situation.
I love watching storms roll in where I live. While I’m enjoying the view, still my focus is on the clouds, types of clouds, rotation of the clouds, color of the sky and clouds around me. I’ve been through enough of them to know when things could get bad quickly.
It is interesting that in those situations how aware you are of what is going on around you. I find when we are facing storms in our lives though it is different. We are not so focused on what is going on around us but usually focused on ourselves. Why am I’m in the situation I’m in? How did I get here? What do I need to do to get myself out of this situation? On and on, but the central focus here is not so much the storm but the “I” of the storm.
Isaiah 43 is one of those verses that provides solid guidance in times of struggle in our lives. It is a passage that has nurtured and helped me through many storms. The major focus of the verse always seems to be about “forget the former things” and not “dwelling on the past.” But the key point of this verse I think is sometimes overlooked is the central message of the verse.
“Do you not perceive it?”
When I faced the storms in my life, I was asking God why ME, what are you trying to do in MY life, where are you wanting ME to go, why aren’t you taking care of ME, what is your will for ME! All of these comments and questions seem right don’t they? All focus on seeking Gods will and an understanding of His will for us, right? But (there is always a “but”) look at where is the focus really. Note the ME in each of these statements and comments we make. We all do it, me included.
The entire passage is like God saying you are only focusing on the negative things, why things are the way they are to the point that in vs. 24 God says what are you really bringing me….your sins….offenses….questions about why things are not working out for you the way that they should….
The key statement in verse 18 and 19 is the “do you not perceive it?” It is like He is saying “quit focusing on yourself. Stop and take a look around you. I’m doing things around you that you are not seeing. Look! Don’t you see it! I’m doing things right in front of your eyes and you are missing it.” Sometimes the thing that pulls us out of the rut is when we stop the focus on our own needs, leaning not on our own understanding, and trying to see what God is doing around us. Not for us or to us but around us.
Will things get better. Maybe, maybe not. The point is when we change our focus from ourselves no matter what our situation is and put our focus on how God is working in and through the lives of others around us or when we focus our attention on others around us through giving, serving, etc we start to break free from the chains of self pity that seem to bind us.
When we can refocus and look for what God is doing around us and not so much to us, maybe then we will see and understand what is happening to us? If we see something that God is doing around us (not to or for us), maybe it is our chance to jump on that bandwagon and go along for the ride. Who knows what doors will open.
We seldom live in the present moment because we spend our time thinking about the past that we can’t do anything about or our future which we cannot control. We miss the moment.
I know I need to quit looking at the Me and start taking a look at what is going on around Me.