“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 43:18 Mean?
God speaks through Isaiah to exiles with an instruction that seems counterintuitive: stop remembering the former things. Stop dwelling on what was. The past — even the glorious past of the Exodus — is not what you should be focused on.
This verse comes immediately before Isaiah 43:19 — "Behold, I will do a new thing." The instruction to forget the former things is preparation for receiving the new thing. You cannot receive what is coming if your hands are full of what was.
The word "remember" (zakar) means to call to mind, to dwell on, to let something occupy your thoughts. God is not erasing history. He is redirecting attention. Stop living in the past. What I am about to do will make the past look small.
For a people whose entire identity was built on the Exodus — the defining moment of their national story — this was radical. God was saying: even my greatest past work is not the lens through which to view what I am doing next.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What 'former things' are you holding onto — good memories or painful ones?
- 2.How does clinging to the past prevent you from receiving what God is doing now?
- 3.Why would God tell Israel to stop dwelling on the Exodus — their greatest miracle?
- 4.What new thing might God be doing that you cannot see because you are looking backward?
Devotional
Remember ye not the former things. That is a strange instruction from a God who told Israel to remember the Exodus at every Passover. But here he says: stop looking back.
Not because the past does not matter. But because clinging to it will prevent you from seeing what is ahead. You cannot walk forward while staring backward.
Neither consider the things of old. Some of us are stuck in former glory — the season when things were good, the breakthrough that defined us, the version of life we keep trying to recreate. God says: let it go. What I am about to do is new.
Others of us are stuck in former pain — the failure, the loss, the wound we keep replaying. God says the same thing: let it go. The former things are not your destination.
What are you still holding from the past — good or bad — that is preventing you from seeing the new thing God is doing? The new thing is springing forth. But you have to release the old to receive it.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Behold, I will do a new thing,.... A wonderful and unheard of thing, and therefore introduced with a "behold", as a note…
Remember ye not ... - So great and wonderful shall be God’s future interpositions in your behalf, that what he has done,…
To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God's people in Babylon brought that there needed line upon line to assure…
Great as the wonders of the exodus were they shall be far surpassed by that which Jehovah is about to do. The verse…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture