Starting over, after the divorce, the failure, the loss, the move, the season that ended the old life, requires a particular kind of courage: beginning again with full knowledge of how things can go wrong. These verses are the Bible's restart canon: new things springing up in deserts, years restored, ashes exchanged, and a God whose mercies restart every single morning whether we feel new or not.
For anyone at a beginning they did not choose (and the rare brave ones who did), in the first days of the new chapter.
“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Do not remember the former things; behold, I am doing a new thing: the charter verse of every restart.
“It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning: the daily restart underneath the big one.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. he”
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the identity under every new beginning.
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”
Behold, I am making all things new: the restart impulse is God's own nature.
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
A new heart and a new spirit: the internal equipment for the external beginning.
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”
I will restore to you the years the locust has eaten: God's arithmetic defies the calendar's.
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Teach us to number our days: the wisdom that makes the remaining days count double.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
All things work together for good: the old chapter becomes material, not just memory.
“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good: Joseph's reading of a wasted decade, from the far side.
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward: the posture is trained, not felt.
“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
Be strong and courageous: spoken to a man starting over after Moses, in full view of the cost.
“And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.”
He goes before you into the new chapter; you will not be the first one there.
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you: three verbs for the first week.
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
The steps are established; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong: stumbling is budgeted into the promise.
“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.”
When I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.
Short enough to write by hand, complete enough to stand on their own.
“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:18-19
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”
Joel 2:25
“It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. he”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Text Isaiah 43:19 to the person at day one; it does not argue, it announces. For your own restart, Lamentations' daily mercies beat any annual resolution: new every morning is a sustainable pace for a new life. Joel 2:25 belongs on the wall of the new place.
Isaiah 43:18-19 leads: forget the former things, God is doing a new thing. Joel 2:25 adds the restoration of lost years, 2 Corinthians 5:17 the new-creation identity, and Lamentations 3:22-23 the daily rhythm (mercies new every morning) that makes a restart livable.
Start with his specialty rather than your record: God announces new things in deserts (Isaiah 43:19), restores eaten years (Joel 2:25), and met his biggest failures (Peter, David, the prodigal) with restoration assignments. Straining forward (Philippians 3:13-14) is a posture you choose before it is a feeling you have.
Skip the silver linings and send the announcements: Isaiah 43:19 or Joel 2:25 in writing, plus one practical presence (a meal in the new place, help with the first task). Genesis 50:20 is for later, when they can look back; day one needs promises about the future, not interpretations of the past.