You may know the famous saying often read at the start of the new year, written by Louise Haskins and quoted by King George VI of England in his 1939 Christmas message to the British Empire.
“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, “Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown,” and he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
“Put your hand into the hand of God.” This new year will be both exciting and challenging. We all need to put our hands into the hand of God!
I have spoken before on wonderful God’s promises to his chosen people in Isaiah 43.
16 This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honour me, the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

We face this new year with the God who is always doing new things. God encourages us to look for the new things he wants to do in our lives and in His Church. God is indeed the God who can do immeasurably more than we can ask, or even imagine!
So we look for the new things He is going to do in 2022.
Holy Spirit, we welcome You. Holy Spirit, we welcome You.
Please accomplish in me today Some new work of loving grace, I pray;
Unreservedly have Your way. Holy Spirit, we welcome You.
We need God to do new things among us, for a number of reasons. These are exciting days as we are stepping out in faith in our new Building Development Project. This will stretch our finances more than we anticipate and I suspect also interfere with our activities more than we are prepared for. But we are starting this new adventure at a time when the church is actually weaker than it has been in the eleven years since I arrived. Covid has taken its toll on our events and activities. Attendance at our morning services is low – many have not returned to worshipping in person with us yet and some have moved on. Some of our activities have not begun again and our circle of contacts is much smaller than it was before the lockdowns began. Of course, we are not the only church facing these challenges – very many churches have been hit even harder than we have. But we certainly need God to do new things among us. As Psalm 127:1 tells us, Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain.
We cannot rest on our laurels just remembering the things God has done among us in the past.
Isaiah 43 18 ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
As we seek to perceive the new things God is doing and seek God’s guidance for the way ahead , for tonight here in Isaiah 30 we find four pointers.
Isaiah 30 15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
16 You said, “No, we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee.
You said, “We will ride off on swift horses.” Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away,
As we go forward with God, we must avoid making the mistakes the Israelites made. It was always God’s plan and God’s desire that His chosen people would find their strength in him. God always wanted His chosen people to trust in Him and depend on him and let His power be revealed in them and through them. But time and again they struggled in their own strength. They put their trust in earthly resources and their own efforts. So things went wrong for them. But that is not how God intended things to be!
Psalm 20 6 Now this I know: the LORD gives victory to his anointed.
He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
As we go forward into 2022 we much put our trust completely in God and not in the least in our own human efforts – not in our own strength or wisdom.
God always wanted his power and glory to be manifested in His chosen people. But they didn’t trust him enough! We must make sure we are depending on God alone.
Isaiah 30 15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
WE need to find our strength in quietness and trust, in repentance and rest. We need to stop trying to do God’s work for him all the time and let God do his mighty deeds among us. I believe that the new things God will do among us in the coming year are exactly that – new things which GOD will do. Not new things we will invent and work at and make succeed. But new things GOD will do in our midst by his sovereign power.
He longs to do much more than Our faith has yet allowed,
To thrill us and surprise us With His sovereign power.
Where darkness has been darkest The brightest light will shine,
His invitation comes to us, It’s yours and it is mine.
Come on in and taste the new wine, The wine of the kingdom,
God is waiting and longing to do new things among us!
Isaiah 3018 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
God is just waiting for us to cry out to him for help. To acknowledge our complete dependence on Him. Not on our own skill or experience or ideas. But on God’ grace without which we can do nothing.
Jeremiah 29 11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
God has great plans to do new things amongst us. He is just waiting for us to pray to him and seek him with our whole heart! But the new things God is planning to do amongst us will not necessarily be comfortable or easy.
Isaiah 30 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
The people of the Exile to whom Isaiah wrote knew all about the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. And that is the destiny of the people of God in every age. Forget the heresy of health, wealth and prosperity. The children of God will not have an easy ride to heaven. 1 Peter, James, 2 Corinthians all, say the same thing.
2 Corinthians 4 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
Following Jesus is not easy or comfortable. The destiny of all Christians is to follow Jesus Christ the suffering servant. If you do not bear the cross you will not wear the crown
2 Corinthians 12 9 But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
So in the midst of all the excitements of 2022, we should not expect the road to be easy. Many of us could well indeed experience the bread of adversity and the water of affliction in the new things God is going to do. But that will not be a sign that we are failing God or wandering from his path. Rather our sufferings will be the channel through which the glory of God will be revealed. So in the new things God is going to do it will be vitally important that we allow Him to guide us every step of the way. And he gives his chosen people a wonderful promise of his guidance.
Isaiah 30 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’
Good News Bible If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, “Here is the road. Follow it.”
We all need that voice behind us telling us which way to go. Especially when God is doing new things among us. Especially when the going gets tough. We need to hear the voice of God saying “This is the way, walk in it.” God will speak to us in many ways: through his word the Bible; through spiritual gifts of prophecy and discernment and words of knowledge and wisdom; through dreams and visions. But above all God will speak to each one of us through that still small voice of calm, the Holy Spirit inside each one of us as we seek God’s face in prayer separately and especially together.
We will need God guiding us to the right ways to help back into the church those we have lost contact with over the last two years. We will need God guiding us to the best ways to share the love of Jesus as we emerge from Covid omicron. Probably starting before the end of the year, the church will also need God’s guidance and wisdom to navigate a period of pastoral vacancy, which may be especially challenging if Covid is still casting any kind of shadow over our country by that stage.
So as we step out in faith into this new year and we need put our hands into the mighty hand of God. We need to put our trust in God and not in ourselves.
‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength,
We need to call out to God in prayer.
Jeremiah 29 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
And we need to make time and space to listen to the still small voice of calm guiding us.
Isaiah 30 . 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’