Sing a New Song

Isaiah 42 contains the prophecy of the coming of Jesus. As I try to put myself back in the towns and villages in the time of Isaiah, I find a people who have lost sight of their God. They have a history full of amazing things God did for them, and while many of them still follow the letter of the law they were given, they don’t really know why they do this. It is their culture. They do it because it is what they do. But they have come to trust in themselves and in other nations and their gods. And their true God has gotten lost in their many gods. Through Isaiah, God said to them, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” Isaiah 42:8

God’s love for His people is so evident in the prophecies of Isaiah. He pleads with the people to turn their hearts and minds back to the Lord. This prophecy implores the people to remember their God and return to Him. “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open the eyes that are blind, to free the captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” Isaiah 42:6-7

Isaiah says it’s time to sing a new song to the Lord. “Sing to the lord a new song, His praise to the ends of the earth…” Isaiah 42:10 And God promises, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16

As he continues on, Isaiah tells the people they will go through some rough times. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” Isaiah 43:2-3a His promise is not that they will not have difficulties, but that He, their Savior, will walk with them each step of the way. All of Exodus shows us just how closely and intimately God walked with the Israelites in the past. What we see there is the physical experience of ‘God with us’. Isaiah prophesied and we now live in a time when God has demonstrated and promised His presence with us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

When we awake each morning, the promise is here for us. God will walk with us. We are not alone. Whether it is a ‘happy’ day or a day filled with pain and anguish, God does not abandon us. He constantly reaches out to us with His strength and comfort, loving us in ways we cannot fathom. But there is something we must do in order to receive that. We must look to Him and reach out to Him. And because He is the Great I Am, the Creator and Master of the universe, when we look to Him, we will sing a new song!

I often join the birds in the morning and sing worship and praise songs to my Abba Father. They are usually songs others have written and I have learned from singing them in church or hearing them on the radio or CD. This morning, God gave me a new song. It is a song that comes out of the waters and the fires I have been walking through knowing that my God is with me. He goes before me, He walks with me and He is my rearguard.

A New Song to Abba

You are my strength, You are my song;

I sing a new song all day long.

When things come I would not choose;

You are my song in morning dews.

When I arise, I look to You,

And praise Your Name even when I’m blue.

I know Your hands hold all that comes,

As surely as the rising sun.

You’ll go before, prepare the way;

And carry me through, each thing today.

You fill me with Your truth and love,

Prepare my heart from things above.

As day goes on, things steal my mind;

So much to be and do I find.

Yet You will call me to Your knee;

And hold me fast and comfort me.

When evening comes, when shadows fall,

I come to You, on You I call.

I take each thing that I have done,

And pray it glorifies Your Son.

You are my strength, You are my song;

I sing a new song all day long.

When things come I would not choose;

You are my song in morning dews.