Isaiah 43:19 English Standard Version (ESV) 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.
God is doing a new thing. We are often told this is one thing, Faith in Christ replacing obeying the law for righteousness. If we accept that definition of “a new thing” we might miss that new instructions can come at any time for any reason that God might choose.
We are sojourners in this world, meaning we move about constantly in the world and if we wander aimlessly we will end up lost to God’s will for us. Remain lost to God’s will long enough and we will find ourselves in a dry place.
Some of us have a long history of experience in walking with the Lord. What God has done in us and for us leaves us with a sense of God’s graces and provisions. If we get the opportunity to walk with the Lord long enough we get to experience new adventures, new responsibilities, new fellowships, and times of rest from our journeys. Rest does not mean we should get “settled in our lees.”
Jeremiah 48:11 King James Version (KJV) Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
Less are the sediments in the bottom of a wine flask and only increases if pouring more and more new wine into an old flask. “His taste remained in him” is like us relying on our experiences to determine God’s will. We lose the scent of God’s leading and can only sense ourselves.
2 Corinthians 4:16 English Standard Version (ESV) So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Our inner self is emptied every day in order to remove the sediments that place our vessel at risk of losing the scent of the Holy Spirit in instructing us where to go and what to do today. The mind holds onto the memory of past experiences and if we rely on that rather than sensing what the Spirit is doing, we go astray.