Logic tells us what has happened before, will likely happen again. History indicates the future. Cycles repeat, what always has been always will be. An object set in motion stays in motion. Your life has a trajectory and it’s heading towards the path your past has set it on.
All of this is true. It’s scientific. It’s historically correct. UNTIL AN ENCOUNTER THAT DRASTICALLY CHANGES EVERYTHING.
Jesus is that encounter. He’s the cycle breaker, he’s the future changer, he’s the trajectory shifter. Whatever was will never be the same after an encounter with Jesus. This is where everything changes. This is where nothing is ever the same. When God gets involved in your story, nothing in previous chapters limits the future chapters. Nothing that has been restricts what can be now.
God is on the scene now, this is where all science is out-powered. This is where what is logical is no longer reasonable. This is where what has never happened before has a viable chance of happening now.
Scripture tells story after story of God on the scene changing everything.
People shouldn’t enter lion’s dens, spend the night unarmed with hungry lions, and walk out without a scratch. But check out Daniel chapter 6, that’s exactly what God did on the scene with Daniel.
People shouldn’t be swallowed by a whale, spend 3 days in it’s stomach, survive and walk out a completely changed person. But that’s exactly what God did on the scene with Jonah in Jonah chapter 1.
People shouldn’t be able to march around impenetrable walls for 7 days and yell real loud to make them fall. That sounds ridiculous. But that’s exactly what God told Joshua to do, and when he did, indeed the walls came crashing down. Read it in Joshua chapter 6.
Doesn’t that make you wonder about your book? What chapter are you in with your story? Is this where God shows up on the scene and changes everything?
Looking through the book of my life as if each year is a chapter, I see God continually showing up on the scene changing what always has been into what could be. In chapter 15 he led me to my greatest blessing in life. In chapter 19 he saved my life. In chapter 23 he fulfilled promises. In chapter 31 he gave an increase. In chapter In chapter 34 he planted a dream. In chapter 40 he humbled me. In chapter 43 he allowed loss and hardship. Now I’m in the 45th chapter of Pamela, and I’m learning this is where God makes the impossible possible!
Do you too see how God is continually showing up in your life and changing the story? Writing a new narrative for your days? Changing trajectories and declaring new things for your future? HE HAS BEEN and HE STILL IS!
We get stuck in a rut of thinking what we have is what we will always have. What we’ve been through is what will continue. The way we feel right now are the feelings we will always carry with us. But we’re wrong. Nothing ever stays the same. Everything is always in a state of continual change. God is not stagnant and he is not stuck. Your rut does not determine God’s ability to create change. Your rut only determines your willingness to step into the change he is offering.
God says in Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
When God does a new thing, it springs up. Meaning it wasn’t there before. It wasn’t possible before. It has never been this way before. But with God on the scene, something new and different is happening. Now he is asking you “do you not perceive it?” Do you not see it? Do you not know what I’m doing here? Will you look for it? Or will you just assume your position in this rut and settle for what always has been?
God wants to do something different here for you. Something that doesn’t make sense. Something that can’t be explained by science. Something that you could never dream up on your own. Something that has never happened before. And now he’s asking you to start looking for it.
I love the way the Good News Translation says it “Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already … you can see it now!”
My sister, just because you’ve always struggled with the same things doesn’t mean you always will. God is doing something new here. Watch for it.
Just because this is the way it has always been in your family doesn’t mean it will continue for you. God is doing something new here. Watch for it.
I’m expecting the God who shut lion’s mouths to protect me like that. I’m expecting the God who uses a whale to redirect a wayward child to show up like that in my family. I’m expecting the God who tears down walls in ridiculous ways and renders the battle victorious, to go before me and make a way like that.
I know what has always been for me. I know what my track record points to. I know where I struggle. I know my own failures intimately. And I’m expecting my God to show up on the scene and do something totally unexpected. I’m looking for Him! He’s the show stopper and game changer. In every chapter of my life he shows up and does something radically different and changes my future!
Where are you in your story? Are you still looking for him, or have you dismissed him as too late and your situation too far gone? Don’t stop looking. Don’t write this off. Don’t give up here. God does the impossible and he does it in totally unexpected ways at what seems like random times to us. Your job is to watch for him. Believe that even though you can’t see him working right now, believe it’s already happening. Believe God is on the scene in your life doing new things, making new ways, making all things work together.
He is. He’s here. He’s working. He’s doing amazing things. Right now.
This is your encounter with Jesus. The cycle breaker, the future changer, the trajectory shifter. Whatever was will never be the same after this encounter with Jesus. This is where everything changes. This is where nothing is ever the same. You’ve invited God in, now He gets involved in your story, and nothing in previous chapters limits the future chapters. Nothing that has been restricts what can be now.
