Our God is the Creator. Therefore our way is always forward.<\/p>\n
Our Lord is the Savior. Therefore he calls us to the future. He leads us away from the past and does not preserve it.<\/p>\n
Because our God is the Lord, confusion and fear should not stop us. Because our God is love, we need not turn aside to slake our thirst.<\/p>\n
Do not remember the former things,<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or consider the things of old.<\/em><\/p>\nI am about to do a new thing;<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0 now it springs forth, do you not<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 perceive it?<\/em><\/p>\nI will make a way in the wilderness<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0 and rivers in the desert.<\/em><\/p>\n(Isa 43:18-19)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Our best intentions and hardest efforts will not yield the fruit of this Word. Left to our own devices, we will seek to rehabilitate and refurbish. We will try to hack our way through the wilderness and dig deeper ditches to bring the water to us. In the end, exhaustion will overtake us. Guilt and despair will mire us down.<\/p>\n
The Lord speaks to us of a new thing that springs forth. He is about to make a way in the place where we are lost. Rivers of grace will flow in the dry places where nothing we’ve planted has grown and our souls have withered.<\/p>\n
You say, “That’s impossible.! What I am facing is too hard, the wound is too deep, the problem too complex, the attack too strong for this to be true for me.”<\/p>\n
Jesus calmly replies, “For humans it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). God’s “all things” certainly covers the thing that you need to happen. After all, these are “the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might” we are talking about.<\/p>\n
He divided the sea, and let them pass<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 through it,<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and made the waters stand like a<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a heap.<\/em><\/p>\nIn the daytime he led them with<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a cloud,<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0 and all night long with a fiery<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 light.<\/em><\/p>\nHe split rocks open in the wilderness,<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and gave them drink abundantly as<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 from the deep.<\/em><\/p>\nHe made streams come out of the<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 rock,<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and caused waters to flow down<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 like rivers.<\/em><\/p>\n(Ps 78:13-16)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Lords says, “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.” Fixation on the past will leave no room in our minds and hearts for the Lord’s present blessing.<\/p>\n
He tells his people —<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I will be merciful toward their
\niniquities,
\nand I will remember their sins
\nno more.<\/em><\/p>\n(Heb 8:12, quoting Jer 31:34)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“Have you asked the Lord to forgive you?” I have asked this of men and women who were festering with shame and guilt. “Yes,” was the answer. I continued, “He says, “I don’t remember the sins that I have forgiven.’\u00a0 Why do you keep hanging on to what he has written off? What makes you think God would lie to you? More to the point, ‘Why do you cling to a higher standard for forgiveness than God does?”<\/p>\n
Thinking that our sins and concerns are too big for God to handle or too small and trivial for his attention are both forms of a perverse pride that says there are places in our lives beyond the reach of grace. Here’s the deal — God is God regardless of what we may think. In his case it is always, “His way or the highway” to borrow a popular saying.<\/p>\n
It is our choices, not God’s capability, that limit the effective working of grace in our lives. The Lord is an all-or-nothing God. Those of us who are too proud to let him deal with every part of our lives are in eternal opposition to him as the Apostle Peter observed:<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “God opposes the proud,
\nbut gives grace to the humble.”<\/em><\/p>\nHumble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your cares upon him for he cares about you\u00a0(1 Pet 5:5b-7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God does not want us to miss out on his generosity. The question that he asks through Isaiah, “I am about to do a new thing . . . do you not perceive this?” expresses the intensity of his desire that we comprehend and receive the blessing that he wants to give us. It also tells us that the first things we need from him are minds and hearts open to what God wants to do in us and through us.<\/p>\n
It is good to start a new year, or any day, with David’s prayer of repentance.<\/p>\n
Create in me a clean heart; O God,<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0 and put a new and right spirit<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 within me.<\/em><\/p>\n(Ps 51:10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n
Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.<\/em><\/p>\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n
![\"Kent](\"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/images\/kent-hansen.jpg\")
Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.<\/p>\n
Finding God\u2019s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent\u2019s passions. He has written two books,\u00a0Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places<\/em>published by Review & Herald in 2002 and\u00a0Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God\u2019s Love Through Prayer<\/em>, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God\u2019s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, \u201cA Word of Grace for Your Monday\u201d that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Friends, The year is turning and it is time to move on. Our God is the Creator. Therefore our way is always forward. Our Lord is the Savior. Therefore he calls us to the future. He leads us away from the past and does not preserve it. Because our God is the Lord, confusion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[226,12,225],"tags":[649,642,48,648,227],"class_list":["post-4399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-word-of-grace","category-cs-lewis","category-devotional","tag-a-word-of-grace","tag-cs-lewis","tag-cs-lewis-foundation","tag-devotional","tag-kent-hansen"],"yoast_head":"\n
A Word of Grace \u2013 Jan 2, 2013 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/a-word-of-grace-\u2013-jan-2-2013\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Word of Grace \u2013 Jan 2, 2013 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Friends, The year is turning and it is time to move on. Our God is the Creator. Therefore our way is always forward. Our Lord is the Savior. Therefore he calls us to the future. He leads us away from the past and does not preserve it. 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![\"Monday](\"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/mondaynew.jpg\")
<\/p>\n