Isaiah 43:18-19

There’s a strange tension in walking with God, one that shows up in the most ordinary moments. You’re supposed to remember His faithfulness, to rehearse His past rescues and miracles, to keep them close like stones in your pocket. But then Scripture turns around and tells you to forget. Not everything, but something. And honestly, figuring out which is which can feel like trying to fold a fitted sheet.

Isaiah 43 lands right in the middle of that tension. God is speaking to His people through the prophet, and He starts by reminding them of who He is and what He’s done. He brought them through the waters. He walked them through fire. He redeemed them, called them by name, claimed them as His own. The past matters. It anchors them to His character and His promises.

But then comes verse 18: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old” (Isaiah 43:18, ESV). Wait, what? Didn’t we just spend verses 1 through 17 remembering? Here’s what makes this different. God isn’t telling them to forget His faithfulness. He’s telling them to stop clinging to old patterns, old failures, old limitations as if they define what He can do next. Because He’s about to do something new. “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” (Isaiah 43:19, ESV).

God is a rebuilder. He doesn’t just repeat Himself. He redeems and restores in ways we didn’t see coming. The Israelites knew the story of the exodus, the Red Sea parting, the water from the rock. Those were real. Those mattered. But if they kept expecting God to work exactly the same way again, they’d miss what He was doing right in front of them. New wilderness. New rivers. Same faithful God.

We do this too. We remember the one time God provided in a specific way, and we start thinking that’s the only way He can show up. Or worse, we remember our failures, our disappointments, the ways we’ve stumbled, and we let those old things dictate what we believe God can do with us now. We forget that He is still making a way, still bringing life where there was only dust.

So here’s the balance. Remember His character. Remember His love. Remember that He has been faithful before and He will be again. But don’t let the past, even the good parts, become a ceiling on what you expect from Him. And don’t let the hard parts, the broken parts, convince you that you’ve used up all your chances.

God is doing a new thing. Not because the old things didn’t matter, but because He’s not finished with you yet. He’s making rivers in deserts you didn’t even know you were walking through. The question is, are you paying attention? Or are you so busy looking backward that you miss the water starting to flow right where you’re standing?