Doing Something New

Step #1: Lectio / Read

Click the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text. 

Isaiah 43:16-21

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Step #2: Meditatio / Meditate

Use the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).

I’m always telling the students I work with that it’s crucial for us to pray with Scripture because it not only tells us about who we are, but it also tells us about who God is. And recently in my life, as I’ve spent time reflecting and praying with God’s Word, it seems like there is one consistent reality He’s been trying to get me to wrap my mind around (because truly I’m nothing if not unnecessarily stubborn). And here it is: our God is a God of impossible situations. 

It’s so easy for me, when it feels like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, to let despair and hopelessness settle in my heart, but the Lord has been constantly reminding me that impossible situations are exactly where He shows up. He’s a Hail Mary pass, David beats Goliath, parting the Red Sea, comes back from the dead kind of God. 

And in today’s reading from Isaiah, the Lord affirms this reality again and again: 
“In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers. Wild beasts honor me,
jackals and ostriches, for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland.” 

I’m not sure how familiar you are with deserts and wastelands, but typically they’re some of the last places anyone would expect to find rivers. And as far as wild beasts go, they’re not typically much for honoring, because, you know...they’re wild. But the Lord, He finds a way where there is no way. In fact, the Lord reminds us today that when the tough gets going, it’s often because He’s “doing something new” in our lives. But the cross must come before the crown, the death before the Resurrection, the hopeless situation before the radical transformation.

So what is the situation in your life that it feels like God can’t/won’t overcome? Offer it to the Lord today, and trust that He finishes what He starts in us and that truly, as impossible as it may seem, He is “doing something new.”

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Step #3: Oratio / Pray

These questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today.

What is God telling you about yourself in Scripture lately? What is God telling you about Himself in Scripture lately?

How is God trying to do something new in your life? What might that "something new" be?

How do you respond when things get tough? How do you respond when God is "doing something new?"

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Step #4: Contemplatio / Contemplate

In this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord.

"Jesus, I trust in you."

"Come Holy Spirit."

​"Make me new."

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Step #5: Actio / Act

In light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today?

Try to overcome the stubbornness in your heart and let the Lord do something new within you. Find a spiritual director if you don't have one, and talk to them about the ways God may be trying to do something new in your life right now.

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Smartphone Lock Screen

The following image is here for you to save and use as a background or lock screen on your smartphone or device to help you carry today's Lectio Divina with you the rest of the day.

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Today's prayer was prepared by Lauren Wright, a Youth Minister in Rockford, IL.

If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today.