Surviving a Standstill Season

Isaiah 43:14-21

As a child, I remember Christmas taking forever to arrive.  The days between Christmas seemed to drag on and even seemed to be at a standstill.  Ironically, now that I’m much older Christmas comes way too fast, in fact, everything is going way too fast.  Time seems to speed up the older you get. Though time continues to move forward, life can seem to be at a standstill. 

How many of you have ever been in standstill traffic? I have on several occasions. The most recent, I spent two hours in standstill traffic on my way to work.  It was so frustrating, especially when there was nowhere to go. I had already passed an exit and the next one was five miles away. It didn’t help the situation that I needed a restroom.  I had no idea what happened, nor could I see if any progress was being made. And just like traffic, life can come to what appears to be a standstill season.  

When you are in a standstill season it’s usually during a period of transition.  You feel like you are stuck, and you don’t know what to do. You can’t see what God is doing, and you struggle with taking things into your own hands.  

The Bible is full of examples of God’s people being in a standstill season.  The Israelites in Egypt were in a standstill season for hundreds of years. Again, in the wilderness, the Israelites were in a forty-year standstill season.  During the Intertestamental period, the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, also known as the “Silent Years.” the people of God were at a standstill.  And that was the case for the Israelites during the Babylonian exile.  

For seventy years the people of God were at a standstill wondering and waiting for God to fulfill his promise of rebuilding and repopulating Jerusalem.  Anticipating their standstill season God, through the prophet of promise, Isaiah, gave them truths for surviving standstill seasons. A few of those truths are found in the forty-third chapter of Isaiah: “' Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake, I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King." Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:14-21).

How do you survive a standstill season? First, you need to recognize that God gives promises to stabilize his people.  

God gives us promises to stabilize (14-15)

Verses fourteen and fifteen reveal the promise God gives Israel: “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake, I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King” (Isaiah 43:14-15).

The Lord has promised Israel destruction by the Babylonians and deportation to Babylon for the first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah. However, God is always faithful to his people, never leaving them, nor abandoning them.  Isaiah reminds them of God’s commitment to his people with the names that he uses for God: “Redeemer, Holy One, Creator, King.” What God is going to do for Israel is not based upon who they are, but whose they are. They belong to God, and God is their Redeemer. 

The Lord assures Israel of his love and commitment before Babylonian destruction and deportation ever happens: “For your sake, I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.” The verb “send” is a perfect tense verb. Scholars refer to this particular tense as a prophetic perfect.  Even though the events that would bring about this promise have not happened, God intends to redeem them from this bondage.  God would use the Persian King Cyrus to overthrow the Babylonians and bring the people of Israel back from captivity and rebuild the temple and Jerusalem.   When God gives a promise it’s a done deal.  

God gives promises to stabilize us during tough seasons.  What I love about this particular promise is that it communicates to the Israelites that their failure and disobedience that brought about the destruction and deportation is not permanent.  Why? Because God is Redeemer, and he can and does redeem our seasons for his glory, and that’s a promise. Next, the text reveals that God gives a process to recognize.  

God gives a process to recognize  (16-17)

Verses sixteen and seventeen give a lengthy introduction to what the Lord is going to command the people of God in verse eighteen: “Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick.” These verses become the context of what God commands in verse eighteen and what follows.  

It doesn’t take a Bible scholar to recognize what the reference is in these two verses.  Isaiah is looking back to a past event in the life of God’s people. The Exodus is when God delivered his people from the bondage of Egypt and eventually brought them into the Promise Land.  The fact that the Lord uses present tense verbs and not past tense verbs is significant. God wants the Israelites to do more than just reflect upon the events of the past. More importantly, God wants them to recognize what God demonstrated during that event. 

When God delivered the Israelites from Egypt he invaded and intervened in their dire situation, and demonstrated his love, power, and his faithfulness to his promises and his people.  In other words, the same God who did powerfully delivered and redeemed the Israelites during the Exodus is the same God who will do the same for the Israelites during captivity. This process and pattern we see in the Exodus and captivity was also the process we see in the cross of Christ.  God is all about redeeming, delivering and setting people free. We need to recognize this process and pattern, especially when we are in a standstill season. Once the process and pattern are recognized, God then gives a perception to utilize.  

God gives a perception to utilize (18-20)

Perception is everything. In fact, perception becomes reality.  What we see and visualize becomes our reality; therefore, God wants his people to be very careful about how they perceive life and circumstances.  First, he addresses how we perceive the past.  

After bringing to remembrance the Exodus event in verses sixteen and seventeen, God commands his people to forget: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.” This seems like a contradiction. Does he really want God’s people to forget about the past events of God’s faithfulness? Not at all.  What the Lord wants from his people is not to focus on the events of the past that they fail to perceive and recognize what God is doing in the present and in the future.  The use of the present tense in verses sixteen and seventeen supports this truth.  

Instead of taking Israel back to the past event of the Exodus, Isaiah brings it and what God did into the present. It’s possible to turn past events into idols; therefore, instead of placing our faith in the event of the past, we must place our faith in the present God who continues to do the same things he did in the past today.   Don’t focus on past events, but on what God demonstrated during those events. If we focus on the past we will miss out on what God is doing now and in the future.  

Isaiah turns our attention to the now and not yet in verse nineteen: “Behold, I’m doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” I love the fact that Isaiah can perceive and recognize what God is doing and going to do. He can see it because of faith in the God who promises in verses fourteen and fifteen to do deliver them from bondage and captivity.  

We forget the past events, but not what God demonstrated in the past. If we expect God to do the same thing he did for us in the past, we will miss and fail to recognize what God is doing in the present and future.  

What was God going to do for the Israelites when he delivered them from Babylonian captivity? Verses nineteen and twenty show us: “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people.”  

The new thing that God was going to do for Israel would not be without its challenges.  They were over 500 miles away from Jerusalem. This would mean a long journey through the desert in unknown territory. As a result, they would experience obstacles, hardships, dangers, and exhaustion.  Even so, the God of the Old Exodus is the same God of the new exodus. He would not split the sea, but he would provide for them and protect them along the way.  

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus, she would soon find out that God’s new thing can sometimes be difficult. It may lead us to set aside our own plans and dreams. It may mean risks. It may be frightening.  Even so, God promises to be with us, to intervene in our circumstances, to protect and provide for us along the way.  

We don’t have to live in old mercies because the mercies of God are new every morning. Don’t let the good old days of the past keep you from the great days of today.  Stand on the promises of God and utilize those promises to give you the perception you need to see the new thing God is doing in your life. The new thing God is doing is for a reason. In verse twenty-one, we see the reason and purpose of God’s new thing: “Than they might declare my praise.” In verse ten of this same chapter, he declares: “You are my witnesses.”  Because of God’s promises we can be assured that he is always at work, doing new thing after new thing so that we can declare his praise and witness of his goodness to a lost and dying world, who desperately needs God’s deliverance.   

The new thing that Isaiah is referring to goes beyond the Babylonian captivity.  It points to when God intervened in history and invaded the mess of humanity by sending his Son Jesus.  The ultimate thing God has done is through his son, Jesus. Notice verse twenty-five of chapter forty-three: “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” In chapter forty-four, verse three: “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring and my blessings upon your descendants.”  This is the good news of the gospel, and this is good news for you.  

The Redeemer wants to redeem you.  He wants to invade your messiness and intervene in your situation. Some are in bondage to sin and you need to be delivered. You need to be set free from the penalty and power of sin.  You have hope. All you have to do is turn to Jesus, and trust in his death burial and resurrection and you will be saved. God will redeem you and set you free. Will you trust him?

Some are in a very messy and painful situation. Some of the mess is your own doing, and some out of your control. You have hope.  God is present in the place of your pain. He is ready to redeem the negative outcome into something positive. It’s not over until God speaks, and he is speaking over you know: “Behold, I’m doing a new thing” 

Some are in a standstill season.  The new thing that God is doing in you seems to be a detour.  This standstill season is really a season of transition into a new direction. God is leading you on a journey through regions of your life and faith you would have never considered without the season you are in at this time. You are in this season so that you can see the heart of God.   

If any of this word is resonating with you then I invite you to respond. Open your hands to heaven and ask the Lord to do something new in your life, in your circumstances, or in your journey. Ask him for a fresh encounter with his presence and begin to live with hope and expectancy concerning the new thing he is about to do.