Devotion:
For an audio version of this devotion, click here.
Read Isaiah 43:16-21.
When we first moved to the area in 1992, the Blythe Ferry was still in operation for cars to be transported across the Tennessee River on Highway 60 between the towns of Birchwood and Dayton, TN. In 1994, the current bridge across the river was completed and the Blythe Ferry closed. The bridge opened up many possibilities for employment and the economy on both sides of the river!
Rev. Michael E. Williams writes, “Bodies of water serve as both barriers and conveyances of life. In an era of bridges and airplanes, when we can easily drive or fly over bodies of water, we forget the power the images had for earlier ages.” Rev. Williams continues, “In verse 19, where God says, ‘See, I am doing a new thing!’, for the people then, the imagery is shifting from ‘water as a barrier’ to ‘water as a conveyor of life’.”
Are we open and prepared for the new thing God might be doing each day in the world and in our own lives as well? This thread of God’s doing a new thing is woven throughout all of scripture. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul writes, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!"
Sometimes we are resistant to the “new thing” God is doing in the world and in our lives. But this is the gift of hope from the prophet Isaiah which the people carried with them. This is the gift from the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. This is the same God who made a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters. (vs. 16) and will now create this new gift, “to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”
Personal Worship Option:
God invites us to always be listening and watching for what new thing God is doing in the people and circumstances around us. Dear God, open our eyes and ears to the new things you are doing and lead us to bring your hope and life-giving power to others.
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