In Isaiah 43, the prophet reminds God's people of their greatest deliverance, the miraculous Exodus. Nothing else defined their national identity like this miracle, which they were commanded to celebrate each year at Passover. Even so, the prophet writes in 43:19 that God will do a new thing, make a new way, something even better. That way is Jesus. He's always the better way, the best way.

We must remember this truth when we suffer through a week like this last one: where a husband and father is gunned down on a college campus; where we are repeatedly served video of a young Ukrainian woman's brutal murder; and where we see once again students running for their lives from an active shooter in Evergreen, Colorado. The evil we see in today's world seeks to infect us with hate, but Jesus offers a better way. He gives His Spirit, Who pours God's love—love for our enemies, no less—into our hearts. And, we no longer need to conform to the pattern of this world.