Don’t Look Back

“But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?  I will make a pathway through the wilderness I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19

When I was growing up, my family loved to go camping. Mom would pack a few days’ worth of wilderness rations while Dad loaded up the station wagon with camping gear. Without looking in the rearview mirror, we headed up the mountains near our home to enjoy the great outdoors. But the wilderness can sometimes be a little scary. Once, upon returning to camp, we were surprised to find a mountain lion enjoying what should have been our family dinner!

The nation of Israel spent many years in the wilderness. Their wilderness experience was not at all like our family camping adventure, but I would imagine it got a little scary at times for them too. Israel had been miraculously delivered from 430 years of slavery in Egypt, but the promise of a land to call their own seemed illusive as they drudged through the dry wasteland. They found themselves looking in the rearview mirror to the time when God led them through the Red Sea on dry ground and drowned the Egyptian army who pursued them. As incredible as that miracle was, God says, “It’s nothing compared to what I am going to do.”

How many times have you and I looked back with longing to a better time, a better age, a better health? We long for the time when we saw the hand of God do wondrous things. But what if God is about the do a new thing? If we only look in the review mirror, we will miss what’s in the windshield. Perhaps that’s why God said to Israel, “Do you not see it?”

Every day that God has given us is a gift. Perhaps God is making a pathway through your wilderness or rivers in the dry wasteland of your life. Do you not see it? Don’t spend too much time looking back, or you might just miss what God is doing next.