By Road or By River" 23-Aug-2026 10AM

Aug 23, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: God’s Way-Making Is an Ever-Present Rhythm

The wilderness is not a dead end for those who walk with God. His power to create paths isn’t limited to dramatic miracles of the past, like parting the Red Sea. He designs deliverance specific to each moment—whether through roads, rivers, or unexpected resources. To insist God repeat past methods is to shrink His creativity. Trust grows when we anchor not in how He moved before, but in who He remains: the relentless Way-Maker. [00:38]

“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters… 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.”
(Isaiah 43:16, 19, ESV)

Reflection: What current challenge are you facing where you’ve been asking God to repeat a past solution? How might He be inviting you to trust His creativity instead?

Day 2: Breaking the Tyranny of Nostalgia

Nostalgia can become a prison when it demands God conform to familiar patterns. The Israelites risked missing new miracles by fixating on the Red Sea. God prohibits clinging to “former things” not to erase history, but to free us for fresh encounters. Mature faith releases its grip on how blessings “should” look and makes space for divine surprise. What suffocates possibility isn’t doubt—it’s certainty that God must act as He did before. [06:08]

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
(Isaiah 43:18–19, ESV)

Reflection: Where has a past miracle or answered prayer unintentionally become a box limiting your expectation of God’s creativity today?

Day 3: Permission for Divine Surprise

Mature faith isn’t about predicting God’s moves but partnering with His unpredictability. Like a child awaiting a gift, joy comes in the unveiling. God often bypasses expected doors to build new hallways. The Red Sea was a rescue; the wilderness road becomes a revelation. To demand the familiar is to miss the adventure of discovering His “new thing.” The greatest testimonies emerge when we release control and let God astonish us. [09:18]

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”
(1 Corinthians 2:9, ESV)

Reflection: What prayer have you been framing with specific outcomes? How might you rephrase it to invite God’s surprising wisdom?

Day 4: Provision Matches the Predicament

God’s solutions are never one-size-fits-all. For the Red Sea, He removed water; in the desert, He provided it. His creativity tailors grace to the exact need—roads where there’s chaos, rivers where there’s drought. Our task isn’t to prescribe methods but to perceive His faithfulness. He isn’t obligated to reroute your wilderness, but He promises to equip you within it. Survival is guaranteed; the form of deliverance is His divine secret. [14:26]

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:19, ESV)

Reflection: Are you seeking deliverance from your current struggle or trusting God to sustain you within it? What might “survival” look like today?

Day 5: Winning in the Wilderness Without Exiting It

God rarely promises to remove the desert but always vows to transform it. A road in the wilderness means progress is possible even in barren seasons. A river in the desert turns scarcity into a sanctuary. The miracle isn’t avoidance of hardship but the discovery of hidden grace within it. Your wilderness isn’t a mistake—it’s the canvas where God paints His most unexpected provisions. [19:06]

“I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people.”
(Isaiah 43:19–20, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you been waiting for God to change your circumstances instead of seeking His presence within them? What “road” or “river” might He already be providing?

Sermon Summary

God speaks through Isaiah 43 as the God who makes a way, and that waymaking never belongs only to the past tense. God’s making a way is not some old episode in divine history. God’s waymaking is an ever present expression of his gracious and loving character. The Red Sea was real, and the Red Sea mattered, but the Red Sea was not the only thing God knew how to do.

God’s character stays consistent even when his methods change. The ancestors needed water moved out of the way, so God opened the sea. Israel in exile needed hope in a wilderness, so God promised a road and a river. The same God designed both deliverances, and God is not so limited in sovereign creativity that all he can do is repeat one miracle.

God refuses to be locked into familiar methods because faith has to grow up. Faith cannot rest only in God being recognizable. Faith has to learn that even when God does not show up in the expected way, God is still reliable. God does not have to do what he did last time, but God does have to be who he was last time, and that is enough.

Isaiah’s command, “Do not remember the former things,” confronts the tyranny of nostalgia. Remembering can strengthen faith when testimony says, “God did it before, so God is able.” Remembering can also suffocate possibility when memory says, “God did it before, so God has to do it that way again.” God calls his people to release their insistence on the familiar because the new thing will not fit inside the categories of the old thing.

God’s creativity cannot be confined to memory. God’s people may want new doors while walking down old hallways, but God says stop looking for another Red Sea. That was their testimony, their moment, their miracle. God has another way for another wilderness.

The road and the river show that God’s provision matches the place. At the Red Sea, too much water was the problem, so God removed it. In the desert, not enough water was the problem, so God provided it. God is committed to survival, and his provision corresponds to the predicament.

God does not always remove the wilderness, but God can put a road in it and a river in it. God is not a one trick God, not a one hit wonder. By road or by river, God specializes in things that seem impossible, and God can make stuff show up where it is not supposed to show up.

Key Takeaways

1. God’s character outruns familiar methods God’s people often want God to repeat the last recognizable move because predictability feels safer than trust. God’s character, however, is the ground of confidence, not the method that once brought relief. Mature faith learns that God may look unfamiliar in the moment and still prove completely reliable. [03:57]
2. Nostalgia can choke holy possibility The memory of what God has done can become either testimony or tyranny. Testimony says God did it before, so God is able; tyranny says God must do it again the same way. God calls his people to release the old shape of the miracle so the new thing can be received without suspicion. [07:34]
3. Faith must leave room for surprise God’s creativity refuses to live inside old categories, even good and holy ones. The new thing may not look like the old thing, and that difference can expose whether faith is trusting God or just trusting patterns. A life with God becomes an adventure when the soul stops demanding predictability and gives God room to amaze. [11:21]
4. God’s provision matches the place The Red Sea needed water removed, while the desert needed water supplied. God’s power is not bound to one kind of answer because each predicament receives the provision that fits it. Prayer grows deeper when it stops dictating the form of deliverance and starts trusting the wisdom of the Deliverer. [18:40]
5. God can win in the wilderness God never promised Israel that the wilderness would disappear before help arrived. God promised a road in it and a river in it. The wilderness does not cancel victory when God is able to place provision right inside the hard place.

## [19:06]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:19] - Waymaking Is Never Past Tense
[01:15] - God’s Methods Change, His Character Does Not
[03:20] - Faith Beyond Familiarity
[05:36] - God’s Creativity Cannot Be Confined
[06:29] - The Tyranny of Nostalgia
[08:18] - Releasing the Familiar
[10:14] - Stop Looking for Another Red Sea
[11:21] - Let God Surprise the Soul
[14:26] - Provision That Matches the Place
[15:08] - Too Much Water, Not Enough Water
[17:00] - God Is Committed to Survival
[19:06] - A Road in the Wilderness
[21:59] - God Is Not a One Trick God
[23:47] - By Road or By River

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Isaiah 43:18-19
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 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.” [06:00]

Exodus 14:21-22
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” [01:36]

1 Corinthians 2:9
“But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’—” [12:39]

Observation questions

In Isaiah 43:18-19, what does God tell his people not to do, and what new pictures of help does he give them instead? [14:46]
In Exodus 14:21-22, what exactly did God do with the water at the Red Sea, and how did that make a way for his people?
What contrast is drawn between the Red Sea and the wilderness desert—especially around the problem of water? [15:05]
What are some of the phrases used to describe God’s new provision in hard places, and what do those images suggest about what kind of God he is? [19:06]

Interpretation questions

When God says, “Remember not the former things,” how should that be understood? Does he forbid all remembering, or is he warning against a kind of remembering that keeps people stuck? [07:25]
If God’s character stays consistent while his methods change, what does that reveal about the difference between trusting God himself and trusting the way he worked last time? [03:20]
What does it mean that God’s provision “matches the place”? How does that shape the way a person understands prayer, waiting, and deliverance? [18:40]
Isaiah 43 does not promise the wilderness will disappear; it promises a road in it and a river in it. What does that suggest about the way God often brings victory? [19:18]

Application questions

Where is there a temptation right now to ask God for “another Red Sea” instead of trusting him to make a new way for this season? What familiar outcome has become hard to release? [10:24]
Is there an old testimony, church memory, or past season of life that has become a comfort but also a limitation? In what way might nostalgia be choking expectation for what God wants to do now? [06:26]
Faith has to grow beyond needing God to be predictable. In this season, what would it look like to trust God’s faithfulness even if his next move is unfamiliar? [03:57]
God’s people often want new doors while still walking down old hallways. Is there a pattern, habit, relationship, or expectation that needs to be released to make room for the new thing God may be doing? [09:52]
God’s provision matches the place. In a very practical sense, what is the actual need in the wilderness being faced right now: direction, endurance, peace, healing, courage, help, or something else? How might naming the real need change the way prayer is offered? [17:32]
There are seasons when the needed miracle is not escape but strength in the middle of the struggle. Where might God be giving a road in the wilderness or a river in the desert instead of removing the wilderness altogether? [18:28]
Some people are living mostly on someone else’s testimony—parents, grandparents, or longtime believers around them. What would it look like in this season to make room for a fresh testimony of God’s faithfulness personally? [25:03]

Sermon Clips

44s

#WinInTheWilderness

“But but there's another miracle in the text y'all, and that is god says, I'll make a road in the desert, and I'll put a river in the wilderness. Here's the miracle. God never told them you won't have to go through the wilderness. He says that while you're going through it, I'm able to put a road in it. I'm able to put a river in it. Some of you have been waiting on god to change your situation, but god came to tell you this morning. I don't have to get you out of the wilderness to help you win in the wilderness.”

54s

#GodKnowsYourNeed

“I I I've grown up enough now to learn how to pray that prayer that the saints at my church used to pray anyway. I I I wish I had a church here. Anyway, you bless me, lord. I'll be satisfied. there anybody here who can testify that god knows how to get you what you need for exactly where you are? There have been times when you were praying for a road, but what you really needed was a river. That there were times where you are asking god to get you out, but what you really needed was grace to help you get through. Thank god that he knows best the provision that we need for the predicament that we're in.”

50s

#IWillDoANewThing

“This is why most of us miss god. We miss god because we say want god to do a new thing until the new thing doesn't look like the old thing. You want new doors to open, but you keep walking down old hallways. You want new opportunities, but you keep reliving expired opportunities that have already gone by. And what god says is, do not remember the things of old. Here's why. I will do a new thing.”

46s

#FaithBeyondFamiliar

“That that a lot of us here's I'm getting to. A lot of us want God to keep repeating past performances because that makes us more comfortable in our seasons of uncertainty. But if god just kept doing the same thing and kept making the same way over and over again, your faith would never grow up. That the upward call of faith isn't learning how to trust a god who's always recognizable, but faith is learning how to lean into a conviction that declares that even when god isn't recognizable, keep I trusting god because here's what I do know. He's always reliable.”

44s

#CharacterNotMethod

“But the kind of remembering being prohibited here is the kind that suffocates possibility. need y'all to hear me. The former says, god did it before. And as a consequence of me knowing God did it before, I know God is able. But the kind that suffocates possibility says, God did it before, so that's how God has to do it again. And this goes back to the understanding or understanding rather the difference between God's character and his methods.”

41s

#GodHasManyWays

“Me get let me put it in the words of the text. Israel, stop looking for another Red Sea. That miracle was for those people at that time. Stop looking for another Red Sea. What you need in this season, what you need in Babylon, you don't need another Red Sea to be open. What you need is another way, and your God has more than one way to make a way.”

41s

#ByRoadOrByRiver

“So the word today is a simple encouragement that I want you to carry that with you, not just this week, but the rest of your life. Whenever you find yourself in a hard place and you don't know what god is getting ready to do, just open up your mouth and say, by road or by river. God's gonna make a way. Unlikely resources, unlikely people, God is gonna make a way because he's committed to your survival.”

36s

#ExpectTheUnexpectedFromGod

“And so when God says, don't remember the former things or consider the things of old, he's saying to us in our wilderness says, I need you to release your insistence upon the familiar because what I'm about to do will not fit inside of any of the categories of things I've already done. Now that should've made somebody shout. God says, what I'm getting ready to do for you, you ain't never seen nobody do.”

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How should believers distinguish God's character and methods?

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