The Art of Letting Go
Sometimes we get stuck looking back – usually at the bad times. We remember our hurts and often define ourselves by experiences in the past. But God, through Isaiah, tells us:
‘Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past’. Isaiah 43:18
It’s not always the bad things that we get stuck on. We get hooked on the good times too. We think about our past successes and remember ‘the good old days’.
The good and bad are experiences we can learn from but we must not let them prevent us from moving forward. Or seeing the new opportunities right in front of us.
Isaiah continues his message from God:
‘See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?’ Isaiah 43:19
The Voice translation puts it like this:
‘Don’t revel only in the past,
or spend all your time recounting the victories of days gone by.
Watch closely: I am preparing something new; it’s happening now, even as I speak,
and you’re about to see it. I am preparing a way through the desert;
Waters will flow where there had been none’.
An Interrupted Life
These verses from Isaiah 43 have come up in conversations with various people since the start of the year. And when we hear the same verse over and over, it’s time to take it seriously. I started mulling over how I could write a blog post but wasn’t sure where the Holy Spirit was leading me with it. And then Peter preached on Saul’s experience on the Damascus Road.
Jesus interrupted Saul’s life. He changed from a persecutor of Christians to a Christ follower himself. We may not have such radical, life-changing encounters but God does want to interrupt our lives and will do so.
‘We make our own plans,
but the Lord decides
where we will go’. Proverbs 16:9 (CEV)
God is doing a new thing
We saw in the passage from Isaiah earlier that God says He is doing a new thing. To make room for the new we have to get rid of the old. We may need to release the comfort of familiar routines to embrace new challenges. God may ask us to lay things down. Activities or jobs we are doing which we enjoy and are successful.
Peter asked in his talk whether we were willing to be interrupted. It doesn’t have to be a major alteration in our lives. It could be that God is asking us to be more aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence and whisperings. He might be asking you to call someone or visit someone that interrupts your plans but you are the one person that is needed for that encounter.
As a church community God may ask us to do something different. To do church differently. I’m not saying that’s what is going to happen but would we be willing if that’s what was asked of us? As Jubilee Church we are living with the picture of the river going out. In Isaiah God says: ‘I am preparing a way through the desert; Waters will flow where there had been none’.
The river we’re in may not flow where we expect. Are you willing to go where the river is going?
