Why does God tell His followers to stop dwelling on the past? Often, we reminisce just to savor the great memories or linger over hurts; in one case, revisiting our successes, in the other, figuring a way we could have avoided errors. Aren’t our mistakes instructive in some way? Possibly so, if we’re delving back to relive a victory or stave off a defeat, but He doesn’t want us to fixate on yesterday.He has a plan for our lives, and that plan involves pushing forward, opening the door, stepping through, and embracing the challenge.Best of all, He promises to go with us.
CHRISTIAN MESSAGE
By WARD PIMLEY
Pastor, Journalist, Author
“Do not say, ‘Why is it that the former days were better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.” – Ecclesiastes 7:10 NASB
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” – Isaiah 43:18 NIV
“Brothers, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what liesahead.” – Philippians 3:13 LSB
WHY DOES GOD tell us not to dwell on the past? Why does He encourage us, even command us, throughout Scripture, to focus on the “new things,” to be open to where He wants us to go? [1]
[1] This Meditation is a revision of a previous post from July 10, 2020, with the same name. This version also contains a second part, a revision of a post from July 02, 2020.
Part 1: It’s Always Groundhog Day
THIS IS A VERY important issue for me – and possibly for you, as well – and one where I often come up short … very short … very often.
I constantly revisit the past and wonder how I could have handled events differently if I had known the Lord then. Of course, I would have been a different person, with a different mindset, a different heart, and with different priorities.
Also, I would have sought advice from different people — definitely, my pastor and probably a youth leader – neither of which I did.
Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’” – Luke 9:62 ESV
I was not very good at taking direction from adults because I did not trust their judgment. My own judgment was willful and purposeful, but, because of my youth, without much experience behind it. I thought I knew more than I actually did; and, as a result, I made more mistakes than I should have.
Yes, I suffered for those mistakes.
Yet God exhorts me to put aside those idle speculations and live the life He is offering me, as His child, to serve the Kingdom and to be a blessing to those He places in my path.
Part 2: Can We Accept Forgiveness?
THE ISSUE IS CLEAR. I see three factors: One, our sin; two, God’s eagerness to forgive our sin, and three, our unwillingness to forgive ourselves.
We hold onto the moment, lamenting lost opportunities, wrong paths taken, selfish actions, bad decisions.
We see the evil in our hearts play itself out in our lives, and we long to rewrite the story. We see the people we have hurt, the innocent lives of children who trusted us, their eyes beckoning us to change course and come back; the broken heart of a spouse whose dreams of a future with us were dashed on the rocks of our self-centeredness. “
We see the evil in our hearts play itself out in our lives, and we long to rewrite the story. We see the people we have hurt, the innocent lives of children who trusted us, their eyes beckoning us to change course and come back; the broken heart of a spouse whose dreams of a future with us were dashed on the rocks of our self-centeredness.
The disappointed note in our employer’s voice as he who had recruited us, encouraged us, and enticed us to work by his side, in sadful resignation, lets us go, finding it preferable to work unburdened by our weight.
My failures during turbulent years when my first marriage broke apart were so devastating to me, I could not bear the pain I felt. Not only did my actions hurt my wife (the mother of my children), but I denied my children the full time and attention of their father when they needed me most.
I still hurt with the memory of those years, but with my life turned over to Jesus Christ, He has helped me heal from the worst of it and start living a productive life. Perhaps it that even today, as I stand before you and preach the Gospel, that this is what God was preparing me for.
He certainly has given me a humility to relate to those who are suffering, and, for better or worse, some life stories to share that fit the occasion.
Part 3: Is There a New Story?
GOD ASSURES US He has written the story, and if we would drop the baggage of our past, we could join Him in this new adventure He has planned for us.
Recently, I had breakfast with a former neighbor who recently moved to Arkansas with his wife, who had been offered a promising job.
He told me he was not sure what he would be doing in his new surroundings, where God would be calling him, but he ~ being a man of great faith ~ said he believes God will let him know the place He has planned for him when he’s ready to accept the opportunity.
SOLOMON, the wisest man to live, tells us not to lean on our own understanding but to trust in God’s direction. (Prov. 3:5-6)
KING DAVID says God’s light illuminates the path before us, showing us where we need to go. (Psalms 119:105)
THE APOSTLE PAUL reminds us that through Christ, we are crucified to our sinful pasts, and with Him living in our hearts, we are open to the challenges and adventures that God has waiting for us. (Gals. 2:20)
THE LORD JESUS admonishes us by saying those who put their hand to the plow and keep looking back, not forward, are “not fit” for the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)
SOME MIGHT SAY if we ignore the past, we’ll fail to learn from it. We can see the truth in that statement, but God is telling us something more. He is pointing out the difference between learning from our errors and dwelling on them.
Once He has forgiven us, we need to leave the spot of sin and not build memorials to our past. Otherwise, we’re saying that Christ’s work on the Cross was not sufficient to complete God’s plan, when God said, quite emphatically, that it was sufficient.
He wants us to believe that and embrace it.
Remember, Jesus told us that He came to give us life “abundantly” — a full-throttled life experience full of community with Him and each other (John 10:10), unlike the life promised us by the devil – who only approaches us to steal joy from us or suck the life out of us.
When we dwell in the past, God says, we’re demonstrating our lack of faith in His good provision, and we’re missing the new opportunities He has planned for us.
Part 4: Can We Trust God?
INSTEAD OF FOCUSING on the past, God exhorts us to refocus our attention on what life is offering us in the present, right here today, and on the future … because that’s where He longs to take us.
LEARN from the Past FOCUS on the Present PREPARE for the Future
Jesus said God is always working (John 5:17), and He wants us to join Him in that effort to spread the Good News to everyone.
Here are a few of His reminders:
“Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 CSB
“Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 CSB
“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4 LSB
“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 NKJV
“And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” Revelation 21:5 ESV
FINAL WORDS
SAVOR THE MESSAGE. FEEL THE LOVE. CLAIM THE BLESSING.
Remember: Scripture is God talking to us. To you and to me.
It is our job to listen, to trust, and to obey.
I leave you with two more verses to consider.
Decide which vision you want for yourself. Hint: One of them is forward looking, gratefully accepting the role God has carved out for us; the other one looks backward in regret, challenging God’s plan for us, ungrateful for His benevolence.
Vision 1: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
Vision 2: “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” – Genesis 19:26 NIV
I know which one I choose: the first one. I want to keep chugging forward, unburdened by yesterday’s mistakes, sins, errors, and misjudgments.
I want to be open to where God is leading me, and wherever He plants me, there it is I want to blossom.
PRAYER
ALMIGHTY GOD, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, Our Abba, our Daddy, Thank You for focusing our attention on our tendency to dwell on the past, wishing we could have a “redo” or “do over.”
We want to avoid the mistakes we’ve made that have taken us down the wrong paths. As we’ve come under Your umbrella as children of God, we want to take away the hurt we’ve caused others, people who counted on us, only to find we came up empty.
Lord, some of it is so painful we would give anything to *redo* the past, to avoid making the bad decisions our sinful natures led us to make, actions that brought ruin and heartache to our lives and to lives around us.
We cannot rewrite the script to benefit from wiser decisions, but through Your love and grace, You have given us each day a new beginning.
Help us, O Lord, to believe so fully in Your promises that we eagerly abandon the tendency to look back on our sins and hold onto the plow as it moves forward.
Lord, we want to be fit for the Kingdom, and we thank You for giving us that opportunity!
We lift this prayer in the majestic name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN
Ward's Words | BY WARD PIMLEY 