When God Does a New Thing
September 1, 2026
““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.””Isaiah 43:19 NIV
Becoming attentive to the new work of God before its full shape can be seen.
God of New Beginnings,
You are always at work.
Even when the landscape looks unchanged.Even when I cannot yet see a clear path.Even when the circumstances around me seem more like wilderness than promise.
Your Word does not say that the new thing will arrive all at once.
It speaks of צָמַח (tsamach).
To sprout.To spring up.To begin growing.
Sometimes Your work begins beneath the surface.
A seed breaks open in the darkness before anything appears above the ground. What looks like an ending may already be making room for life I cannot yet see.
Give me eyes to notice what is beginning.
Help me recognize the quiet shift in my desires.The new question forming in my spirit.The opportunity I might have dismissed.The strength returning where weariness once lived.
Keep me from demanding that new things look familiar.
I confess that I sometimes ask You to move, then resist when Your movement disrupts what I know. I want renewal without change, direction without uncertainty, and growth without leaving anything behind.
But You are making a way where I cannot find one.
Teach me to pay attention before I ask for proof.
Let me honor what You are beginning, even while it is small. Give me patience with its early form and courage to follow as the way becomes clear.
May I not overlook the stream because I am still thinking about the desert.
Today, awaken me to Your new work.
And when I begin to perceive it, give me faith to welcome it.
Amen.
To sprout, spring up, or begin to grow.
In Scripture, צָמַח (tsamach) often describes life emerging through a process that may initially be difficult to see. In Isaiah 43:19, God’s new work is already springing up before His people fully perceive it. The word reminds us that divine beginnings are sometimes quiet. Faith learns to notice and nurture what God has begun before it becomes obvious to everyone else.