Daily Manna · Day 266 · September 23
A New Thing Springs Forth
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
God does not always rescue His people the same way twice.
This chapter is a long list of what He has already done. He is the LORD who "created thee" and "formed thee," and He says, "I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name." He promises to be with them through the waters, through the rivers and through the fire. Then, a few verses before ours, He recalls the crossing of the Red Sea, calling Himself the LORD "which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power."
In the very next verse, God tells them to stop looking back at it: "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old." He is not ashamed of the old rescue, but He refuses to be limited to it. Then He asks, "shall ye not know it?" The danger He names is that the new thing will come and they will not know it when they see it, because their eyes are fixed on the shape of the last rescue.
Look at how He describes the new thing: "I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." The road runs through the wilderness itself, and the water flows where nothing could grow. The God who opened the sea is still at work, and He may meet your need in a way you have never seen before.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 266 is Made in Wisdom (Psalm 104:24).