Letting Your Faith Not Your Past Define You

My Utmost For His Highest

 

You shall not go out with haste,…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. —Isaiah 52:12

 

{CHAMBERS} “Security from Yesterday. […] Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present. Security for Tomorrow. “…the Lord will go before you….” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience. Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste….” […] Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.”

 

{ELGIN} None of us are free from heartaches, disappointments, or regrets. Some of them are our doing, some not.  If you are born again, new in Christ, you do not have to let your past define you. (Philippians 3:13-14) “….. one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Oh that we could embrace that attitude.  Well, actually we can, but not by willing it.  It is a product of a deep and abiding relationship with Christ.  I was speaking with our daughter-in-law the other day about the nature of heartache.  If you were to break a bone, it would be painful of course, but the pain would eventually subside.  You can remember the event.  You can remember that you broke that particular bone.  It might even remind you when a storm is approaching.  But one thing you cannot do is feel the sharp, stabbing pain that you felt when the bone was broken.  You know it hurt, but you cannot conjure up the same feeling that you had in the past. 

 

Not so with a broken heart.  It only takes a word or a thought to bring back the pain of the moment when your heart was broken.  (Psalm 34:17-28) “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted  and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” What a promise.  He delivers us out of all of our troubles.  He gives us strength.  He gives us comfort.  He gives us hope.  He gives us life.  You have so much to look forward to in the days ahead.  Don’t let the pain of the past define you.  Instead let the Lord renew you.  (Isaiah 40:31) “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”