“Forget all of 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” (NLT).

“I am about to do a new thing.” It was the first thought in my mind as I moved from sleep to wakefulness. It is not every morning I am awakened by God’s gentle and merciful voice speaking scripture over me. The beautiful thing about God’s Word is that God uses it to affirm Himself at work in you. The work God is affirming in you is redemption.

What is redemption? To be clear and to properly frame it, redemption is two specific things working together for one purpose. First, redemption is God’s act of salvation in your life. He is rescuing you from bondage and captivity, whether that be physical or spiritual. God has bought you at a price, “for he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). In Christ Jesus you have freedom. Secondly, redemption is the act of making something new. God does not restore us, because to simply restore us would be to bring us back into our old life or old way of thinking. God takes what was old – what was broken – and makes it into something entirely new and beautiful. It is a new thing. We are “like clay in a potter’s hands.” Jesus Christ gives us a new heart, a new calling, and new way of living.

“I am about to do something new.” Here is the reality about the new. For the new to come, the old must pass. I cannot even recall how many times I have looked at my past with a longing sadness – friends, circumstances, jobs, marriages, whatever it may be that is no longer present in my life – I miss it and long for it to be again. The new is already coming. The passage of time leaves us no choice but to let it go. However, letting go of our old self, our old way of thinking, or our old sins is not as simple. God nailed the old me to the cross of Christ and killed it, so why do I still try and live in the old me? We must be ready to let go of our old self. We must let God put it to death. God has an incredible blessing He wants to give us, but He cannot, until we allow Him to bring us to our own death.

“I have already begun.” Not only is God giving us a hope for the future, He is affirming that He has already begun the active work of redemption in us. The presence of God is with you. There has never been a time when God was not working in your life. God is inviting you into what He is already doing. He is extending His hand and asking you to take it. God wants you to play an active role in your own redemption.

“Do you not see it?” We are blind to the activity of God. Perhaps we are too busy. Maybe our own plans are too distracting. Or worse, we are just not paying attention to God. God does not want us to miss what He is doing. Are your eyes opened? The truth is, in order to see the new thing, we must have eyes of faith. Only with eyes of faith will we be able to catch a glimpse of what God is doing. A response of faith is the complete surrender to God’s transforming power to make us new. The danger in not having eyes of faith is that we fail to see God’s activity in our life. That is how we become stuck in the old. In the old, we are reliant on our own power and our own power will always fail us.

“Do you not see it?” is a warning to pay attention to what God is doing in us. It is also a sharp reminder to see the work God is doing in others. If we keep our brother or sister confined in judgment, we do not allow ourselves to see the redemptive work of God flowing in their lives. To you, that person will forever be stuck in that confinement –unchangeable –unforgivable –nonredeemable. “Do you not see it?” The same work of redemption God has begun in you, He has begun in them. Are you holding someone God has forgiven in contempt? We should never forget Jesus’ words to the adulterous women, “where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you? …Neither do I…” (John 8: 10-11). Who are you to hold in contempt someone for whom God does not hold in contempt? Scripture humbles us when it reminds us of the difficult truth, “I am (you are) the worst of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). If God’s grace can save me, it can save them. Perhaps God is calling you to partner with Him to bring redemption to that person.

God makes two other profound statements in this scripture. First, God says He is going to make a pathway in the wilderness. It is important to understand that redemption is often a work in progress. It takes time – mostly because of our own stubbornness – for God to reshape us, change us, and transform us. This is the steady, and sometimes slow-burn, work of sanctification. God does not simply let us wander aimlessly through the wilderness, like the Israelites did for 40 years; no, God will give us a clear road to follow. All we must do is open our eyes – the eyes of faith – to see the pathway. Secondly, God will create rivers in the wasteland. As we walk down this path, there are many areas in our life God is cleaning up and making new. When we allow God’s presence to move in those areas of our life, He will turn them from ugly unusable wastelands into glorious gardens, flowing with the rivers of His Living Water.

Are you looking for the activity of God with eyes of faith? Are you expectantly looking for the new thing He is about to do and has already begun doing in your life?