被曲解的经文预览

Isaiah 43:19, without context, is super easy to twist. Anyone could justify any new thing they ever decided to try. I bought a new car. Insert twisted Scripture here. I love this new diet. Scripture. Just invited yet another feral cat into my home. Isaiah 43:19.

If not cat rescue, then what’s Isaiah writing about here? By now, you know we’re going to look for context. Isaiah was a prophet writing to the Israelites (Isaiah 1:1) who had very recently been defeated, and exiled (Isaiah 42:22). In our favorite new-thing verse, Isaiah wrote to tell God’s people their same God is about to do something new and different by restoring them (Isaiah 43:3-5). Interestingly, in the verses leading up to 43:19, God reminded the Israelites of the great miracle of the parting of the red sea (Exodus 14:21), and He asked them to forget the things of old. It’s as if God was saying, “Don’t be burdened by your recent defeat and exile. Look what I did through Moses. Okay, now forget it. I’m so powerful, I’ll set you free again in a new way.”

God, through Isaiah, depicted a daunting wasteland full of scary wild dogs as no match for Him (Isaiah 43:20). Okay cat lovers, maybe this is your Scripture. More seriously, as we complete the chapter, we see a loving God who desired to be worshipped and called upon (Isaiah 43:21-24). Yet, He is the God who rescues His people—in ways not limited by our imagination—for His own sake (Isaiah 43:25). The thing God did for Israel may have been new in the moment, but the concept is repeated throughout the Bible and our lives. God provides a good way for us. We depart from it. Despite our rebellion, and though we’re at our self-made dead end, He makes a surprising way out for us.

What simple truth can we draw out and apply from this passage? As Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, there’s not really anything new on our side of the sun. Still, God in His inventive grace makes our lives new when we call on Him. To help us spot God’s creative work in our lives, we can ask ourselves, “Is this ‘new’ thing something God is doing to bring Himself glory?” Is it wrong to attribute moments in our lives to God’s handiwork? No, God desires our worship. Should we do our best not to confuse our ways with His ways? Yes.

Consider: Do you ever pass off your new idea as God’s new idea? What creative work is God doing in your life for His glory?