Where We’ve Never Been Before

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

Where We’ve Never Been Before

(“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.” - Isaiah 43:18–19)

There’s a brilliant quote from Henry Kissinger: “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” That's thought-provoking, isn’t it?

Leadership isn’t about staying in the comfort zone, revisiting the past, or even doing things the way we did them elsewhere just because it worked then—ignoring context, culture, and resources.

Christian leadership is about movement, growth, change, faith, and more importantly, obedience. It’s about the courage to step by faith into the unknown, even when it’s scary, even when it’s new, even when it doesn’t all make sense yet. Think of the life of Gideon: Oh look—they have a big army, but you have too many soldiers—send some home, even the faint-hearted ones!

This isn’t just a leadership principle; it’s the way God operates, who He is and what He's like.

The God of the New

Delve into Isaiah 43. The people of Israel are in exile. They’ve been through slavery in Egypt, freedom through the Red Sea, and wandering in the wilderness. They’ve seen it all—victories and failures, miracles and heartbreak—and now they’re here, stuck, wondering if their best days are behind them.

Into that mix, God says something stunning: "Forget the former things." Forget Egypt, the Red Sea, the manna. Forget what you’ve known before. Forget them—don't even consider them—press reset.

Why? Because "I’m doing something new." Something so alive, so fresh, so beyond your imagination that if you’re too busy clinging to the past, you’ll miss it. And you'll regret it because this is your moment—God's moment for you.

Did you catch that? The God who split seas and sent bread from heaven is saying, “That was good. But I’m not done. You haven’t seen anything yet.”

The Wilderness as the Way

And then God says something even more wild: “I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Stop the music! The wilderness isn’t just a geographical feature—it’s a metaphor. It’s the in-between space. The unknown. The unformed. The place where you feel lost, where nothing grows, where you don’t have a map, your phone battery is dead, your 24-ounce Hydro Flask Wide Mouth (complete with with Flex Chug Cap) is empty, and you have already swallowed your last piece of chewing gum.

For Israel, the wilderness was where they wandered for forty years. It was where they questioned God, doubted His provision, wrestled day in and day out with who they were, and learned who they were not. And yet, in all of their distress, God doesn’t avoid the wilderness. He doesn’t say, “Let’s go around it.” He says, “I’ll make a way through it.” Through it.

Sometimes that's the prophetic word for you. It's going to be a bumpy ride—you have all the promises, help, support, encouragement—but buckle up. Later, you'll look back, breathless with a few aches and bruises, and know that God in His wisdom, lovingkindness, and faithfulness, as ever, took you the best way.

Think about that. The wilderness simply isn’t the end of the story. It’s the stage where God shows up in new, unexpected, unprecedented, and audacious ways—streams in the desert, pathways through chaos, water where there should be none, life where everything seems dead. What an adventure!

The Leader Who Goes First

Here’s what we have to see: this is what true leadership looks like. It’s not about maintaining what already is; instead, it’s about seeing what could be, stepping into the future and saying, “Come on. Let’s go there. Together.”

Isn’t that what God does? He doesn’t leave His people in exile or abandon them in the wilderness. He goes first, prepares the way, and makes streams where there were none.

It's a narrative we see again and again in the Bible. God called Abraham to leave everything familiar for a land he’d never seen. He told Moses to lead a people out of slavery into freedom through a desert with no food or water. Stories like this tumble from the pages of the Old Testament, and then suddenly, there’s Jesus. No wonder His appearing in the pages of scripture is accompanied by cosmic activity of angels singing and worshipping.

Jesus steps into the broken world that He once deemed good, and says, “Follow me.” He doesn’t give an MBA five-point plan, a set of policies and procedures, KPIs, SLAs, or a detailed itinerary. He just says, “Let’s go. I’m taking you somewhere new. Somewhere better. Somewhere you can’t even imagine.”

And where does He lead? Through death itself. Through the ultimate wilderness. And on the other side? Resurrection. New life. The kind of life that, because of Christ's death and resurrection for and on our behalf, changes everything. Literally everything. No stone unturned.

What About Us?

So, here’s the question: where are you clinging to the past? What’s the thing you keep going back to because it’s safe, because it’s familiar, because at least you know what to expect? Think about it. Your experience of praying for and healing the sick - sharing the gospel - reading the bible - leading a group - leading a bigger group… leading a church - all of that can change. In a heartbeat.

What. If. God. Is. Inviting. You. To. Something. New?

What if the wilderness you’re in right now—the confusion, the waiting, the struggle, the frustration, the lack of recognition or opportunity—isn’t the end of the story? What if it’s the place where God is making a way?

That is the divine “what if” right in front of you, in this moment.

The challenge for us is the same as it was for Israel: to let go of what’s behind and step into what’s ahead, to trust the God who leads us from where we are to where we’ve never been before.

Do You See It?

Isaiah says, “Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” At last—NOW it springs up...

That’s the thing about newness. Sometimes it’s subtle, quiet, easy to miss. Like a single shoot pushing through dry, cracked ground—but if you’re paying attention, you’ll see it. You’ll see that God is already at work, He’s already making a way.

And when you see it—when you realise that the God who led Israel through the wilderness and raised Jesus from the dead is the same God who’s leading you—it changes everything.

The task of the leader, your task maybe, is, as Kissinger said, to get yourself or his people from where they are to where they’ve never been.

God is the ultimate leader, always taking us somewhere new, somewhere better, somewhere we’ve never been before.

It's a fantastic journey.