Bible Verses About God Doing Something New And The End Of Something Old
God doing something new
Do you sense God doing something new and you don’t know what to do? The good thing about coming to the place of having no clue what to do, is it makes us keenly aware of how much we need God. I can’t count the times I have come to a place of sensing God doing something new with me in ministry over the past twenty years. Right now, I feel that familiar stirring once again. The good thing is I normally don’t mind change; however, I want to know that I know what God wants me to do.
When God wants to do something new in us or with us, we can know a new beginning is on the horizon. New beginnings can be exciting and scary because they involve change. The scary part is that we don’t know what the new beginning will hold even if we plan and prepare.
New Beginnings
One of the biggest new beginnings during my adult believing life happened when God called me to ministry in my late thirty’s. I had been a hairdresser for twenty years and loved my job. I enjoyed the creativity of the profession and loved the relationships formed with my clients.
While I had been a licensed professional for twenty years, being a hairdresser was my life. My older sister was a hairdresser and as a child I spent every possible moment at the salon washing, rolling, and styling my dolls’ hair. Being a hairdresser seemed part of my DNA so as a senior in high school, I went half a day to high school and half a day to beauty school. This positioned me to graduate beauty school before my eighteenth birthday.
When I was twenty-three years old my mother brought a huge box of baby dolls she kept in the attic from my childhood. I had cut every one of those baby dolls’ synthetic hair and they all looked a mess. My mother laughed at my dismay over seeing those dolls and said she wanted me to know how much I had improved over the years.
I tell you that because I want you to see how much leaving my much-loved profession of hairdressing behind was a big deal. I left what I had known and loved to follow God’s new beginning for me. It was exciting and scary because I feared what the changes would bring and I couldn’t see how this new beginning would play out.
Nevertheless, I followed God’s call to full-time ministry for the past twenty years. Those years have been filled with new beginnings continually bringing me to the place to seek God for His will and direction during the transitions.
God’s Calling = Repeated New Beginnings
From the initial yes to Jesus, I experienced one new beginning after another. I started out leading the women’s ministry at my home church. Then I started writing and teaching women’s Bible studies. God gave me an unexpected opportunity to produce and host a local Christian women’s television show. I’ve also hosted Christian radio shows along the way, and many more opportunities have sprung up throughout my past twenty years in ministry. Now I do so much of my ministry in the social media world, which I strongly resisted in the beginning. That was a new beginning I did not even want to think about, but God has a way of getting us on the same page with Him.
God’s Word And New Beginnings
New beginnings are God’s forte`. In Revelation 21:5 the Lord says, “Behold, I make all things new.” Jesus gave us a new commandment in John 13:34 and a new covenant in Luke 22:20. Second Corinthians 5:17 is one of my favorites.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
If you happen to be anything like me, I made such a mess of our old life that being a new creation is one of the most incredible gifts I have ever received. And then Hebrews 10:19-20 reveals yet another incredible gift.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.
Hebrews 10:19-20
We get to enter into His presence by a new and living way. The old way or old covenant was limited access into the holy of holies to a specified individual at a specified time and place. The new way Jesus gave us has no barriers and limits, but an open door accessible to any of us, at any time, any place, for any reason, we have the opportunity and privilege to enter into the most intimate place of His presence.
And finally, God gave us promises for the future of a new name in Revelation 3:12, and He promises a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem in Revelation 21:1-2.
As you can see, God is in the “new” business. Throughout my years of following God, I learned that new beginnings with God are good.
Do You Sense God Calling You To Something New?
Sometimes God allows us to plan for new beginnings such as births, a new job, a home renovation, and sometimes our only part is to experience God’s work of a new beginning.
Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19
In Isaiah 43:19, God told His people that new was coming and it was His work. He Himself would do the new thing. For God’s people, the new would spring forth. The spring forth terminology speaks of a plant breaking forth from the ground. Then God says, “shall you not know it?” We may not have any part in the new thing God is breaking forth in our life, but He often lets us feel the inner stirring of His working in the soil of our Spirit and our life.
The end of Isaiah 43:19 gives us clues regarding this new thing God will spring forth. What springs forth from God’s work for us points to an impossible situation, a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. Only God can spring forth a road in a wilderness.
We may can trudge our way through, hacking away at the brush, maybe even bull-dozing down some obstacles in our path, and eventually pave a road in the wilderness. However, trying to make our own way never works out for our best.
I so much prefer His way, His work making my way for me. In the sensing His new work by His Spirit in me, all I know to do is seek Him, seek His face, seek to know His will, that when the new springs forth, I am in step with my Jesus.
Let’s Talk About Your New Beginnings
Can you sense His Holy Spirit nudging you, drawing you to a new place in life? Do you see an impossible obstacle in the way of your new beginning? Remember that God is able to bring your new beginning to life.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Ephesians 3:20
While new can be both exciting and scary, we want to experience all God has for us. If He wants to spring forth something new in our life, He intends it for our good. Until we know what He is doing and what He wants to do in or with us, our part in the journey is to trust Him and seek Him. As we do, He will reveal Himself and His will. He will lead us and guide us as He springs forth our new beginnings.
Let’s end with a prayer thanking God for His new work in our lives.
Precious Heavenly Daddy, Lord God Almighty,
Thank You that You make all things new. I can look back across my life and see so many ways you have worked and brought me to new places and seasons that have brought new and good things into my life. As I sense You calling to something new in my life, keep me following behind You, not getting ahead of Your plan. I ask You to spring forth the new and impossible things in my life that are for me in my faith journey. I give You praise for Your past work in my life and for Your future work in my life, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
