The Promise of a New Beginning!
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
For most of us 2020 has felt like a wasteland! So much loss and pain, amid a pandemic compounded with social, economic and political unrest. Who isn’t ready for a new beginning, to flip the calendar to a New Year! I think that’s what makes this promise so promising! The prophet, Isaiah is telling us to “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” Amen!
Yet, I’ve found that one of the mental games our enemy likes to use against us is to cause us to remember the things we ought to forget and forget the things we should remember. It’s the devil’s way to keep us stuck in the past. Part of living longer is accumulating a past. Have you made peace with your past? We all have past regrets, past failures, and hurts that threaten to derail us from moving forward into the irresistible future that God has for us. One of the paradoxes of Scripture that, on the surface, appears as a contradiction is when we read in one passage that we are to “remember the former days” and in another passage to “forget the former things. …” The point is that there are things God wants us to remember, as well as things we should forget. In his classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers says, “Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ. Leave the irreparable past in His hands and step out into the irresistible future with Him.”
Look back on the good things God has done for you, the grace He has shown you, and set your gaze ahead to what lies before you. And, when the enemy reminds you of your irreparable past, just remind him of his imminent future! As we flip the calendar to a new year, I believe God wants you to receive this promise from His Word. I pray it will encourage and challenge you as it does me! "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
This promise reminds me of the sign that says, “Stop looking back, you’re not going that way.” That sign describes what I call rearview people. They are stuck in the past, looking in the rearview mirror. You can’t really see where you’re going if you keep looking behind you.
While it’s important to glance in the rearview mirror, we need to put our gaze ahead looking through the windshield at where God is leading. God has a glorious hope and a future for you. Too often, though, we buy the lie that our failures are the final story and believe the fake news that our past disqualifies us from God’s purpose today. The truth is, God’s purpose is the final story, not our failures! The Bible says, “… it is the LORD’S purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21b (NIV) How can you move forward when you’ve failed in the past?
1. LET GO OF THE PAST
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV) The only way to effectively let go of the past is through forgiveness. To forgive in the language of the Bible simply means to release the offense, to let it go. It’s what God does when we confess our sins to Him. Through Christ death on the cross, we can be forgiven. Now, if God forgives our sins, we need to forgive ourselves and let it go. In Hebrews 8:12, God says, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
2. OBEY GOD IN THE PRESENT
Moses is a great example of this. Despite failures in his past, God had a purpose and plan for Him. But he needed to obey God’s calling on his life and leave the dessert where he had been hiding for 40 years. He had to let go of the past and obey God in the present. God was doing a new thing! He had a new plan for him just as He does for you!
3. MOVE BOLDLY INTO THE FUTURE
As God began to unfold His purpose in Moses’ life, he had to learn to move boldly into the future to accomplish that purpose. There’s a time to pray and a time for action. When Moses stood with the Israelites before the Red Sea, it must have seemed like a dead end, literally! The whole Egyptian army was charging toward them and they had nowhere to turn. As Moses cried out to the Lord, God told him to move boldly ahead. Stop looking back, you’re not going that way!
Despite our failures in the past or how impossible the future may seem; our failure is not the final story! God’s purpose is the final story! Let go of the past, obey God in the present and move boldly into the future with faith.