Transitioning Pastor
September 2015
In my devotional reading on August 25th, I was reminded again of our human tendency to gaze backwards to the "good old days" of our past and recount how wonderful it was "back then."
But God wants us to look forward. While we can appreciate the past, we need to be ready to experience His new work. Listen to His words to the Israelites while they were languishing in exile beside the waters of Babylon. (Isaiah 43:16-19)
This is what the Lord says—He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “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."
The tendency of the Jews was to dwell on how God had worked in their past to free them from slavery to the Egyptians. He wanted them to look forward to the "new thing" He was about to do in their midst to free them from slavery to the Babylonians.
How much time do we spend facing backward when God wants us to face forward? Dwelling on the past prevents us from realizing that God is always at work. His new work is springing up now! We need a joyous sense of anticipation to see with the eyes of faith what He's up to. Do you not perceive it?