March is confused. The month I mean. From one day to the next, one doesn’t know what to expect, weather-wise or otherwise.
To us at least, this month seems unable to provide a consistent pattern of weather. One day beautiful sunshine and rising temperatures. The next, plummeting temperature, cloudy, dreary, cold. Will it hold on to winter? Grab hold of spring?
For several centuries, most of their history, the Israelites had been following the same old patterns of worship and service to God. In Isaiah 43:19 God informed them, “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” (ESV). Isaiah prophesied this a century before the Assyrians conquered the northern tribes and two centuries before the Babylonians conquered Judah1. What makes this prophetic announcement so poignant is that the scattered people of God could not be certain, from one day to the next, what their future held, the circumstances and weather notwithstanding.
Isaiah’s prophecy was a divine assurance that God would bring them back to the Promised Land because he would make a way, from where they were, through the wilderness and desert to Israel. It was a slight reminder of their exodus from Egypt and their wandering around the Sinai desert. God had already proven that their circumstances, and the weather, were not impossible obstacles. And what he had done before, he would do again. God held their future in his hands.
This reminds me of the old hymn, I Don’t Know About Tomorrow. The chorus goes like this, “Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.”
There is so much about March that is confusing. It is famous for one thing: If it comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb. If it comes in like a lamb, it will go out like a lion. This ancient proverb originated sometime prior to the seventeenth century in England2. Weather watchers noted how volatile the transition could be from winter to spring. March symbolizes stormy beginnings and calm endings, except when it symbolizes calm beginnings and stormy endings.
No this is not superstition. In my own short life, March’s stormy versus calm has been proven over and over, year after year. If the weather is pleasant during the first few days of March, the last few days will be terrible. Or vice versa. It is only consistent in its inconsistency.
The most fabulous thing about God is that he is the only consistency in an inconsistent world. He never changes. Always the same, yesterday, today, and all the forever morrows. His new thing is the unexpected, the most-unlikely, the thought-to-be-impossible, the not-yet-existing way or river, what you’ve never seen. His new thing cannot be identified in the present but your circumstances point to it. His new thing is custom-made for exactly where you are and what you need. Whatever God’s new thing for you, whether an unseen way out of your wilderness, or a refreshing river in your desert, it will deliver you to where God is leading you.
March is the natural example of perseverance. Nature intentionally pressing from winter into spring. March is an example of unbridled celebration, not accidental but appointed joy. March reminds us that the body is the temple of the Holy God. We should steward it well. March is Women’s History Month, reminding us of Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Deborah, Hannah, Esther, and Mary; all of whom were God’s new thing in their generations.
March may be confused. You don’t have to be. Whatever your uncertain circumstances this March 2026, God promises a new thing, his created way through your wilderness, or his river through your desert. You can expect it. It’s coming.
Historical Notes
- Contextually, Isaiah is speaking to Judah’s exiles in Babylon, and the northern tribes dispersed to who knows where. He prophesied during the eighth and seventh centuries BC. The northern tribes were dispersed by Shalmaneser V in the later seventh century BC, and Judah was taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar during the sixth century BC. The Assyrians did such an efficient job of dispersal that we refer to the northern tribes as “The Ten Lost Tribes.” ↩︎
- It was recorded by John Ray in his 1670 English Proverbs. We only have unsubstantiated theories for how this proverb began. ↩︎