The stains on my wall were a mess . . . or an art masterpiece (beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say). They were splats from a long night of battle. My opponents were fierce. Though outnumbered, I was victorious and now bursting with pride. Exhaustion and the stark reality of the responsibilities ahead restrained my excitement. I was 16 at the time. A new phase and season in my life had started. There was no way I was going to let a horde of mosquitoes get between me and my newfound independence. I had a new room that would be my personal territory within the larger family abode. Despite the temporary absence of new window nets and a ceiling fan, I was eager to stamp my authority as lord of the room before any of my siblings could. I held on to the promise my Dad made that I could have the room if I would work with him to fix it. I could endure a few more nights volleying mosquitoes as long as the room was mine.

The scenario described above is not exactly the kind of unboxing you see on YouTube. That was how I ‘unboxed’ my new room some 20 odd years ago. I have unboxed a couple of new items since then; a new phone, a new tablet, a new TV . . . and each of them came with some excitement and anticipation. Yet, there is something else that should fill us with anticipation and excitement. It is the future God promises us as found in Jeremiah 29:11:

A new future can make us anxious. A journey to a new future takes us through moments of discomfort and uncertainty. This is because we have no control over the events that will occur. We often struggle to comprehend the idea of releasing ‘the old’ (how things were done in the past). As a result, we struggle to embrace the responsibility that comes with having ‘the new’. This sometimes causes us to take wrong paths that led us further away from the future God has promised us. Regardless, God is still in the business of redeeming situations.

Michael Jr, a Christian and Comedian in America, compares the way God operates with a navigation device. He noted that we all at some time in our lives have ignored the navigation systems in our cars or on our phones. We take alternative routes instead of the one recommended. And though we go in another direction, the device does not abandon what it has set out to do. It recalculates directions and shows you what you are now supposed to do based upon where you are. The problem is, if we continue to ignore the directions given to us, the road conditions become different. It may become rougher and we begin to waste our own time and resources trying to find our way.

God does not waste time nor resources. Isaiah 43 provides us with assurances and how to follow His guidance:


1. Declare God’s Truth over your life
God’s promise is our starting point. You’ve got to know where you are going with all certainty. A quick look at Exodus 14 illustrates the turmoil that ensued when the Israelites thought God had led them to a dead end. Moses remembers God’s assurance (Exodus 3:12) and declares to the people of Israel:

Declaring God’s truth will strengthen you not to end your journey prematurely. Jeremiah 29:11 tells me I am headed for a successful future, so any word to the contrary is only a distraction. The Bible is full of God’s promises. Remember them, use them, and hold unto them so that the storms of life do not knock you off course.

2. Stay Focused
“Do you not see it?” “Can you perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19 calls our attention to look, to see, to watch, to focus! A lack of focus can have disastrous consequences. Like road signs, we need to pay attention in order to recognise them. Recognising signs and a change in the atmosphere in our lives help us to: (i) reaffirm we are on the right track and (ii) warn us about impending dangers and thus help us to realign our direction. God emphasises the need for us to focus. The idea is that when we stay still and listen intently, we become aware of God’s presence and what He is doing.

3. Let Go and Let God rewrite your past (Isaiah 43:18).
Declaring the truth of God is to embrace the future He has planned for us; Embracing the future is to let go of the past. This is not to say you forget what God has done in the past, this is asking you not to get hung up on how he did things in the past. God is always up to something new, making paths where there was none. In the old testament, we read of how His instrument of choice for parting the red sea was Moses' stick. When He made a path through the river Jordan, the priests carrying the ark only had to step in the water (Joshua 3). God is not boring, and He’s got an exciting future for us. He continues to make paths were there are none, in pleasantly surprising ways.

To conclude, God our father is much more relatable and exciting than we often think. He is always working in our favour and speaking to us. At whatever phase in life you find yourself, be encouraged. God wants to meet you where you are and He wants to take you into a new phase, a new place, a new season.

Can you feel it?