Happy Monday, Inspiration Nation!

It's the last Monday of October. Most of us walk into this week carrying last week with us. The meeting that went sideways. The thing you said that you wish you hadn't. The goal you set at the start of the month that's still sitting there. The bill, the diagnosis, the disappointment.

We replay it. We rehearse it. We carry it into Monday morning like a backpack nobody asked us to wear.

And while we're looking back, there's a good chance we're missing something right in front of us.

Our mission at Inspiration Co is to inspire the world one positive thought at a time. We started on card tables at Christian concerts, then kiosks, then stores across the country. Every one of those steps was new ground. Nobody handed us a map for any of it. Most weeks, the next step only made sense after we took it.

So today I want to look at one of the most hopeful promises in the Old Testament, a flooded river that didn't move until somebody's feet got wet, and a short video that showed how easy it is to miss what's right in front of you.

Do you not perceive it?

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 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." — Isaiah 43:18–19 (NIV)

Here's something interesting about this passage. Just two verses earlier, God introduces Himself by pointing to the past. He is the one "who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters" (Isaiah 43:16). Israel would have heard that as the crossing of the Red Sea, the same rescue Joshua pointed back to at the Jordan (Joshua 4:23).

Then He says, in effect, don't dwell on that.

Not because it didn't matter. Because He wasn't finished. The God who made a way through the sea was about to make "a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Same God. New work.

That's what "forget the former things" means here. It isn't pretending the past didn't happen. It isn't erasing your mistakes or your memories. It's refusing to let the past be the only place you look for God. The old failures don't get the final word, and neither do the old victories.

Then comes the question: "do you not perceive it?"

God doesn't only announce the new thing. He asks if we're paying attention. Apparently it's possible for something new to spring up right in front of you and for you to walk right past it.

Remember the story…

After forty years in the wilderness (Joshua 5:6), Israel finally stood at the edge of the Jordan River, looking across at the land God had promised them. Moses was gone (Joshua 1:2). Joshua was in charge. And the river was in the way.

The officers went through the camp with instructions. When they saw the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, they were to follow it. And then they added a line I love: "Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before" (Joshua 3:4).

You have never been this way before. That's an honest description of most Mondays. A new job. A new baby. A diagnosis. A business idea. A kid going through something you never went through. You've never been this way before either.

Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you" (Joshua 3:5). Then God gave the priests a strange instruction: "When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river" (Joshua 3:8).

Now look at the timing. "Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing" (Joshua 3:15–16).

The river was at its highest. And the water didn't stop until their feet touched it.

They didn't get a dry riverbed first and then decide to walk. They walked toward a flooded river because God told them to, and the way opened when they stepped in. "The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground" (Joshua 3:17).

Afterward, Joshua had twelve stones taken from the river and set up at Gilgal. He told the people that when their children asked, "What do these stones mean?" they should tell them, "Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground" (Joshua 4:21–22).

So which is it? Forget the past, or set up stones to remember it?

Both. The stones weren't there so Israel could live in the past. They were there so the next generation would trust God with the next river. Remember what God did. Don't dwell there. Then step into what He's doing now.

The gorilla in the room

In 1999, two psychologists at Harvard, Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris, published a study in the journal Perception called "Gorillas in Our Midst." You may have seen a version of the video.

They made short videos, about 75 seconds long, of two teams passing basketballs, one team in white shirts and one in black. Observers, almost all of them college students, were asked to watch one team and silently count its passes. Some got an easy version of the task. Others had to keep separate counts of bounce passes and aerial passes.

Partway through the video, something unexpected happened. In some versions, a woman with an open umbrella walked through the scene. In others, a woman in a full gorilla suit walked right through the middle of the players. Either way, it lasted about five seconds.

Afterward, the researchers asked whether anyone had noticed anything unusual.

Out of 192 observers, 46% never noticed the unexpected event at all. The gorilla was missed even more often than the umbrella. Only 44% of the people who saw a gorilla version noticed it.

Two more details stuck with me.

First, the harder the counting task, the more people missed it. In the easy version, 64% noticed the unexpected event. In the hard version, only 45% did. The busier their minds, the less they saw.

Second, the researchers tried a version where the gorilla stopped in the middle of the players, turned to face the camera, thumped its chest, and then walked off. That took about nine seconds. In a small follow-up group of twelve viewers, only half noticed.

The researchers' conclusion was simple. We tend to see what we're paying attention to, and we can miss things that are right in front of us when our attention is somewhere else.

This was one study, with mostly college students, watching a basketball video. It isn't a study about faith. But I think it gives us a picture of Isaiah's question. "Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" It's possible to be so focused on counting, on last week's numbers, on this week's list, on the thing that went wrong, that a new thing walks right through the middle of your week and you never see it.

Reflection

When I look back at how Inspiration Co grew, from card tables to kiosks to stores across the country, almost every step was a "never been this way before" moment. There was no dry riverbed waiting for us. Most of the time the way opened only after we stepped toward it.

Our community sends us hundreds of emails and calls. Some of the best ideas and encouragement we've ever received showed up there, from people we'd never met. If we had only been counting passes, we would have missed them.

At home, with five kids and homeschooling, I see Isaiah's question play out all the time. Every kid is always in the middle of some new thing. A new skill. A new fear. A new question. It's easy to stay locked on the lesson plan and miss what's springing up in them right now. And when they're stepping into something they've never done before, my job is often the same one I use with a kid learning to ride a bike. Run alongside for a while, and then let them wobble. The wobble is part of the new thing.

God is not done with you. He wasn't done with Israel after the Red Sea, and He isn't done with you after last week. The question for this Monday isn't whether He's doing something new. It's whether you'll look up long enough to see it, and step in when He says go.

Christian Faith Points

• God tells His people not to dwell on the past, because He is doing a new thing (Isaiah 43:18–19).

• The God who "made a way through the sea" is still making "a way in the wilderness" (Isaiah 43:16, 19).

• God asks us to perceive what He's doing, not just wait for it (Isaiah 43:19).

• Following God often means going where "you have never been this way before" (Joshua 3:4).

• The Jordan stopped when the priests' feet touched the water, not before (Joshua 3:15–16).

• Remembering God's past faithfulness helps the next generation trust Him with the next river (Joshua 4:21–24).

• In Christ, "the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

A few questions

• What "former thing" from last week, good or bad, are you still dwelling on?

• What might God be doing right in front of you that you've been too busy to notice?

• Where is your "edge of the Jordan" this week, the step you'd take if you trusted that the way would open?

Action Plan for This Week

1. Name the former thing. Before 9 a.m. Monday, write down the one thing from last week you keep replaying. Pray over it, hand it to God, and then close the notebook.

2. Lower the count. Pick one hour this week with no phone and no list. Walk, sit with your family, or just look around. Ask, "God, what are You doing here that I've missed?"

3. Ask someone else what they see. At dinner, ask your spouse, a kid, or a coworker, "What's something new you've noticed God doing lately?" Sometimes other people see the gorilla first.

4. Step into the water. Choose one step this week where you've "never been this way before." Make the call, send the proposal, sign up, start the conversation. Don't wait for a dry riverbed.

5. Set up a stone. On Friday, write down one way God showed up this week. Keep the list somewhere your family can see it.

Prayer

Lord, You made a way through the sea, and You are still making a way in the wilderness. Forgive me for dwelling on what's behind me, both the failures and the wins. Open my eyes this week to the new thing You are doing. Slow me down enough to notice. When You tell me to step into the water, give me the courage to go before the way is dry. And when You show up, help me remember it and tell the people coming after me. In Jesus' name, amen.

Call to Action

Before Monday is over, take one step toward your Jordan. Then come back and share in the comments one new thing you've noticed God doing this week (no names needed). Your stone might be the encouragement someone else needs to step in.

Faith steps into the water. Hope looks for the new thing. Love tells the next generation what God did.

Created to Create.

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