By Rev. Daniel
 
Introduction
2020 has come to an end.  If we were to ask the question, “So what has happened in that year?”  Probably the answer is COVID-19.  That was what it had been the past year.  With a gloomy past, how then are we to face a new year?  This is what we are all asking ourselves as we face 2021.  There are some who are pessimistic, there are also those who are optimistic and there are also those who are realistic. 
 
I have been thinking too.  What do you think the Lord has in stored for us in this new year?  What is the Lord going to do for us, to us and in us in the new year?
 
In Isaiah 43:18-19
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
 
A. A New Thing Awaiting us.  (Forget the Past)
The prophet of God said, “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past!”.  It does not mean that we erase all memory of the past - we cannot even if we want to.  But I believe it means we must not let the past hinder the future.  The key word here is “dwell” which means being settled, living in the past.  While we use to do things in the past, it would have to be different for now.  As we look into 2021, it is looking with this expectation – the new is awaiting – we must be willing to forego the way we do things in the past to welcome the new.
 
There were things we still remember though.  In fact from verse 1-17, God was actually relating to them the past of his ability to deliver them.  There are things we want to remember.  For example;
1. Thank God that He has Pardon us of my past
2. Thank God that He provides for me in the past.
3. Thank God that He pushed me out from the past.
 
We look at the past with grateful to God, but that does not mean we should be living in the past.  They are past and they confirmed our faith in God.
 
There were many things that bound us from the past like, resentment, failures, worries, and sins.  God has delivered us from them all.  If we dwell on the past, harboring resentment, culturing worries, rolling in our failures, we will then not be able to enjoy the new thing!
 
B. A New Thing – we must anticipate it  (Looking Ahead)
“See, I am doing a new thing!”
Well, it says here that “He is making a way in the desert, and streams in the wasteland.”  The problem many at times is that we don’t see what God sees.  We see a desert, God saw a Highway.  We see wasteland, God saw a well watered land.  We see Covid 19, God saw the world crying out to Him.
 
Do you see that?  God is doing something new.  WE must learn to anticipate the new way of doing things as something good – something far reaching than we can imagine.
 
C. A New Thing – let us embrace it 
“I provided water in the desert and streams in the wasteland ... that they may proclaim my praise”
 
Changes carries the idea of newness.  If you changed your hairstyle today, you will probably hear something like this, “There is something new about you ah!”. 
Likewise to be ready for the future is to embrace it and manifest that change.  A person who is willing to change is the one who is ready for something new.  If you are not - there will be nothing new.
 
Verses 22-24 tells us that the way we show that we are ready is our willingness to offer to God that which belongs to God - and the first thing is to surrender ourselves to Him.
 
CONCLUSION
As we enter the new year – let us also move in faith and thanksgiving, surrendering ourselves to God as he is doing something new.  Don’t frown, have faith!  God bless all of you.