Do you like starting something new–whether it be a new hobby, a new job, a new relationship, a new goal? Have you ever thought about whether or not God likes starting new things?
Well, you could answer, considering He started everything in the universe, I imagine there was a time that He enjoyed starting something new. But, that was a long time ago and He hasn’t done a new thing since.
It might surprise you to realize that God and new come together as themes in the Bible quite often, actually. Let me share a few verses with you.
God’s Word shows that He delights in and works out in us
A New Creation:
Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. (2 Corinthians 5:17, The Message)
A New Life:
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
A New Start:
And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God, keeping all his commandments that I’m commanding you today. God, your God, will outdo himself in making things go well for you: you’ll have babies, get calves, grow crops, and enjoy an all-around good life. Yes, God will start enjoying you again, making things go well for you just as he enjoyed doing it for your ancestors. (Deuteronomy 30:8-9, The Message)
A New Covenant:
Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus’ death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way. (Hebrews 9:16-17)
A New Heart/New Spirit:
‘For here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God! (Ezekiel 36:24-28)
After seeing enough of these verses, you would think that God actually liked the idea of new, even being involved in making things new. If you’ll notice, everything new that God has purposed in the passages above involves people–He wants to do things in and with you and me. He does not do new things merely for the sake of having new things to look at and show off. Instead, He sees the necessity of things in our world being made new. Thus, a new creation, a new heart (in us), etc. He chose to do these things because they were very good (and for us, very needful).
Perhaps, if you are feeling disappointed that God hasn’t done more new things in your life, you have not seriously investigated God’s policy on doing new things. You see, He has His own way of doing things. And if we want Him to do something, we must first find out whether our wish is, in fact, consistent with what He does and how He does it. If it’s not, we are not truly looking for a work of God when we expect it, but a work of some gene who grants our every wish–whether it be good or not.
You may be interested to know that some of the magic-like tricks that we long for God to display in our lives are really not very God-like at all. Rather than pull things out of thin air, He displays His affinity for newness by redemptively working with what He’s already made. He doesn’t like to see anything that He’s made get old or wear out or even become unusable. What He really desires is for us to lose the oldness that has come upon us by sin and gain the newness that comes into us by His Spirit, which reconsecrates our lives to God.
If you spend enough time with God, you’ll find that He just can’t seem to leave messed up things alone. It appears that He loves so much the things that He once made very new that He wants them to become that way once more. Apparently, He’s not too content with old things–maybe He’s just like we are in that way. Anyway, when you wonder what God’s doing new, just take a look at yourself through the eyes of His Word. Ask Him to reveal the new thing that He wants you to be a part of next. When you join Him in the new things He’s doing, you just might discover that some of your penchant for having and enjoying new things is a quality that shows your likeness to Him.
At Home with God 