Learning from the past – and pressing on towards God’s future
We look back. We remember – and we learn.
What we learn from the past, we bring with us into the present, into our journey into the future.
We cannot turn the clock back. We do not belong to the past. We’re travelling towards the future.
We go back to the book of Genesis – in the beginning. We look forward to the book of Revelation – in the end.
We are no longer at the beginning. We are not yet at the end. We are somewhere in between.
How near are we to the end? That is not for us to say.
We listen to the Word of God. From the beginning, God calls us to look back. He calls us to remember the lessons that come to us from the beginning. When we look back we do not say, “That was for then. We no longer need to concern ourselves with that now.” We ask the Lord “What are you teaching us?”
We listen to the Word of God. From the end, God is calling us on into is future. What the future holds for us we do not know, but we do know this – God will be there for us.
In our journey – from our beginning of our end, we travel from place to place. We will meet many companions on our way. Our personal journey is like the journey from Genesis to Revelation. We do not go directly from Genesis to Revelation. We spend some time with the people of Israel – their deliverance from the land of slavery, their years in the wilderness, their arrival in the promised land. We spend time with the Psalmists, the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles. Above all, we spend time with Jesus, our wonderful Saviour. We go to all those people who reach out to us from the past. We learn from them, but we don’t get locked in the past. We press on towards God’s future.
In our journey towards God’s future, we will learn lessons about ourselves, and we will learn lessons about our God. Our life is very different from the life that people lived in Bible times. We do not lose ourselves in the past. We find our God, reaching out to us from the past and calling us on to his future
Charles Cameron, better known as Charlie to his friends, lives in Scotland and is a member of the Church of Scotland. He owns several Christian blogs found at the following links:
We are to make sure we learn from the past, from those who came before us, and from God’s word.
The Old Testament is not old in that we can’t learn anything from it. Even Paul wrote, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:14) AND “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11)
It is these lessons that we are to pass on to others. “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.” (Deuteronomy 4:9)
But as important as these are, we’re do overly dwell upon them, for God always has something new that He desires for us to know and to walk in.
“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)
Thank you for this morning’s word. It was a great spark for me to think through this. Take care and God bless
Thanks for the great comment!
Thanks, Andy, for posting these notes, and thanks, Dennis and Patrick, for your comments. God bless each of you.