I for one used to stand in the place of the question; ‘Why does God insist on us not remembering the former things, nor considering the old, but beholding the new things that He shall do?’ Well, the good dad that He is, provided some answers; One: Getting rid of the familiarity. We humans get bored with the same systems, environments and possessions among other things. Naturally, getting new shoes, gadgets, or clothes brings a warm refreshing and joy to all of us, since we grow, and outgrow shoes, clothes or gadgets at some point.
The getting-rid-of-familiarity reason goes on to tell us that God hasn’t run out of new ways to love on us or instruct us. He doesn’t want us to get ‘used’ to Him, or to seem to know His every move. He doesn’t want us to lose the wonder we have in Him. You see after the red sea splitting, He made Jonah exist in the sea for 3 days by a fish. That’s another wonder. A man lived in the ocean and not by means of an underground water hotel or submarine. Beside Jonah, Jesus showed up, and showed us another ‘move’. ‘I don’t need to split the water no more. I can just walk on it!’ THAT’S NEW!
Imagine if Jesus split the Galilee too. We had already seen the sea split twice. No—thrice in fact! Moses, Elijah, Elisha. Like it or not, humans would go like, ‘We’ve seen that. What new trick doth thou Godlings have?’ And don’t worry that God will run out of new! He can’t. Just after Jesus skateboarded the waters, Phillip showed up and defied the laws of matter displacement and velocity, travelling over 100km in a second, by teleporting. NOW THAT’S SOME OTHER NEW!
Moses got familiar when God asked Him to speak to the rock. He smote it twice! God tried to show Him a NEW! But anger didn’t allow Him see it. Some of us are alike. We expect God to use a certain method to provide for us, through so and so, and as we wait for manna and quails to come out the ground, He sends ravens from the skies with bread!
When God does the new, we are in awe of Him. We indeed can say ‘there’s nothing too hard for Him’. We again can say, ‘to God, nothing is impossible…’ Our trust in Him becomes more concrete, firmer, and established. And we find that we can’t be familiar with him at any one point.
Reason two: God said the glory of the latter shall be greater than the glory of the former (Hag 2:9). If the old had to split the sea, the new had to walk on it.
Buuuuuut, the new today becomes the old tomorrow. So, the new walking on the lake that Jesus did, became the old, and so the new became Phillip’s not needing to split or walk but to only imagine where he needed to be and it became! Greater works than what He did He said we would do. Greater works is an infinite abstract which hasn’t limited us. If Jesus had said ‘Greater clothes shall you design’, that would have eliminated the miracles, the revelations, the gatherings, and the books… As though to say what He had done we would not exceed. Thankfully, He was sharp. So that we would have no excuse.
Now if we can’t seem to imagine the new in transportation, i.e. going beyond Philip’s teleportation, then maybe we can see the new of that in a greater dimension (say being able to teleport thousands of people at once) or conclude that there’s no greater in transportation to be discovered. If there isn’t, then that eliminates the need of transportation.
For example, today, a newer new came. Philip had to travel to preach in Azotus, but what if He can speak to people 100km away from Him without necessarily having to travel the way. What if he had a phone? What if he’d the internet, and facebook or youtube, such that they could livestream him! In the 50s A.D. that would be a whole other new!
Reason Three: No eye has seen no ear has imagined, and no mind has perceived what God has in store for those who love Him (1 Cor 2:9) … If indeed no eye has seen, nor ear heard, that only leaves it unknown. When it arrives, it shall basically be new. By default, even your mind hasn’t perceived what God has in store for you. Inevitably, the uncreated lies in you. And so, He expect you to be in waiting … in earnest expectation … of something the earth hasn’t seen yet.
These are the kind that will make you sing a new song to the Lord, like the Psalmist beseeches us many times. God is saying ‘yes, there’s a place for ‘renewing’. Renewing you as the eagle. Making new what was old. But there’s also a place, in God, times in Him, where it is not just refurbishing the old … but giving you Brand NEW only!
Thus … expect NEW!
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Isaiah 43:18-19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert
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