“But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19 NLT)
Today is our wedding anniversary – one of those decade anniversaries. With jobs and church and other things there won’t be much of a celebration today, but hopefully later this fall. In the meantime, it’s a day to do a bit of remembering, a bit of forgetting, and a bit of looking forward.
Some things from the past decades I remember with great joy and pleasure. Others were hard. Some were very, very difficult. I believe our human nature finds it easier to remember the hard things than the good things. This is probably why over and over in the Old Testament God calls his people to remember the Exodus – remember how they were rescued, remember the miracles, remember their covenant with God. Similarly, in the New Testament we are told to remember Jesus’s death and resurrection in the communion elements, remember God’s grace for us, and remember to serve God in all we do. God calls us to focus on, to dwell on, to remember his goodness, grace, and blessings. Remember, remember, remember God’s good.
He also tells us to forget because he forgets. When we confess our sins and commit our lives to walking with God he forgets our transgressions. He says that his love is so great for those who fear (honor, respect) him that he removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. When we are in Christ we become new creation creatures. Our old sinful nature has passed away and our new nature is our present and our future. God tells us to forget the former things (our sinful natures) – to stop dwelling on our pre-Jesus past – and to focus on the new, unheard of things that he is doing. There are fresh pathways and water in areas of spiritual/emotional/relational desert. God commands us to perceive, pay attention, and rejoice in the new he is creating. We are to come home to him, sing songs of joy, and see the abundance he pours into our lives.
There are times in relationships to remember and times to forget. Today I will focus on remembering the good and moving forward in God’s good plans for us. I will seek him with all my heart and dwell on God’s plans to prosper our future with hope.
God,
Thank you that you call us to remember your goodness and good works and to forget our sins and the trials of our past. Help us to seek you with all our hearts and see your provision, grace, and blessing in our lives. Make a way in the wilderness of our lives and give us your spiritual water when we are in a desert season. Help us to forget what we need to forget and remember what we need to remember, we ask in Jesus’s name. Amen.
“They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem. They will be radiant because of the Lord’s good gifts— the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life will be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows will be gone.” (Jeremiah 31:12 NLT)
“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:11-13 NIV)
“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)
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14 NIV)
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:11-12 NIV)
“Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19 TPT)