Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 43:18-19

"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." — Isaiah 43:18-19 (ASV)

Remember you not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing;

It is a very profitable thing to remember the things of old; it is greatly beneficial to us to study what God did in years and ages long ago. Yet God intends to do for us something in the future that will eclipse all the past. This was especially true in Isaiah's day, for the coming of Christ, which was then in the future, was to be such a sunrise of mercy that all the stars of blessing that had shone before would seem to be lost in the brightness of his appearing.

Dear friends, do not always dwell on the past. You who are getting gray are very apt to say that the former things and former times were better than now. Do not say so, but believe this promise of Jehovah: Behold, I will do a new thing.

Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing: now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Do not imagine that what God has done in the past will never be repeated. It will be excelled: he will do yet greater things. Of all the mercy and love which God has shown, we may say that these are only prophecies of what he will yet reveal. There are now things yet to come in which the splendor of his mercy will be yet more clearly seen than in all the former things.

Remember you not the former things, neither consider the thing of old. Behold I will do a new thing;

What God has done once, He can do again; but He can also make yet grander and more marvellous displays of His power and grace than He has ever given before.