Behold I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:19

New cars are nice. I have had a few in  my day, but I generally buy a used car. I feel that once someone has driven the depreciation out of it and had all the quirks and kinks fixed, then it’s ready for me to own. Now I am talking about practical cars, you know, those every day drivers that we use to commute back and forth to wherever it is that we go each day. But there are a couple of really old cars that I would love to own and perhaps if God ever sees fit for me to strike it rich I may buy one. My favorite old car is the 1969 Camaro. If I had my way, I would own a fully restored 1969 convertible Chevy Camaro. What an awesome car. A couple others that I am fond of is the 1955 Ford Thunderbird and while I am not a Corvette fan, I do like the older models from 1955-1960.

Now in all honesty I would not want one of these cars that had been laying under a tree in someone’s back yard for the last 60 years,  you see I have neither the time nor the expertise to restore it to it’s natural beauty. I would need one that has either been well preserved or fully restored. I have a great deal of respect for someone that can buy one of these as an old clunker and completely restore it to it’s original condition.

You see we are like these old cars, we have the potential to become classics, but we must be fully restored. You see life causes a bunch of dings and dents. Over time we get rusty and parts don’t work. We need to be restored. Well, praise God that’s just what He does for us.

There are three scripture passages that speak to this. Our passage from this morning speaks of God’s doing something new. The Israelites messed up time and time again. They were faithless at times and turned to idols. God is letting them know that He is faithful and He will restore them. We see time and time again in the Old Testament that the Israelites mess up big time, they suffer the consequences, they cry out to God for relief and God forgives them and restores them and they repeat this pattern over and over again. We see God’s faithfulness in the restoration of His chosen people in the past.

In the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 5:17, we are told that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away and the new things have come.  This speaks of the current restoration that God will do in us when we turn to Him and decide to follow Him and live in Him.

And then in Revelation 21:4 we are told that He will wipe away ever tear, there will no longer be death, no mourning, no crying or pain; the first things have passed away. The future that we look forward to is an eternal life where the old things like death, mourning, pain, and crying are gone. We can and should be looking forward each and every day to an eternal life in glory with our Lord and Savior.

God is faithful, even when we are not. A new car on the showroom floor is nice, it has that new car smell. It is free of dents, dings, scrapes, rust spots. But as it begins to age, these things come. Just as our lives may begins well, but soon we start to face the issues of life. This happens sooner for some than others, I know. But either way, life takes it toll on us. For some of us, it can be like a train wreck at times. But we have a choice.

We can turn to God for repair and restoration. We can let Him make us like new again. Once we are made new, we will still experience hard times here on earth, but we look forward to heaven. We hold on to His promise of becoming like new. We remember that His word is faithful and true and He will wipe every tear away. He will cleanse every stain that sin has made on our lives.

God was faithful to restore them then, He is faithful to restore us now, and He promises future restoration.

So, if you are feeling like an old clunker that someone has thrown a tarp over and parked in the back yard to rot, know that God wants to restore you. Turn to Him today, give it all over to Him. He will make you new again. He will give you a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

Have a great day!