Thankful but looking to the future
Isaiah 43:14-18 NKJV “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I will send to Babylon, And bring them all down as fugitives— The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.” Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and horse, The army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick): “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.”
The people of Israel were being oppressed at Babylon in the same way as they had been in Egypt. In the first verses, God, through the prophet Isaiah, reminds them what He did in the past. God reminds them that they saw His faithfulness at work many times.
Surely, you have seen God’s faithfulness working in your life in the midst of your difficulties. There’s no doubt that you have been a witness of how God has protected you, how He has blessed you, how He has used you, the doors He has opened and the beautiful things He has done in your life.
During difficult seasons, God has guarded our heart, our spirit and our family.
Even through crises, God has been faithful! There’ve been political and economic crises, divided nations, a global pandemic, but through all of that, we can testify that God has been good.
We have to remember what God has done and respond with thankful hearts. Remembering what He did in the past helps us recognize His faithfulness. It helps us keep trusting Him not only today, but when we think about the future.
In fact, in verse 18, we find an invitation to look at what’s ahead…which cannot be compared to what happened in the past! Furthermore, it tells us that we have to forget about the past to open our hearts to the new.
Why does God remind them what He did in the past and then ask them to forget it? It sounds contradictory. The reason why He asked them that was because He was about to do something totally new. His faithfulness is the same, but what He’s going to do is different. He encourages us to forget, because we should have a growing expectation for something new.
So, we celebrate the past, we are thankful for what He’s already done, we recognize His constant faithfulness. But we forget about the past to focus on the future. We are open to the new things that He’s going to do, which cannot be compared to what He has already done. God is about to do something new.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness in every moment of my life. Thank you for all the things you have done in the past. I ask you to help me have an open heart to the new things that you want to do in my life. Amen.
Blessings
Ps Mandy
