“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 desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV.
For many of us who have lived on the earth a long time, our history is significant as to who and what we are today. Remembrances may be tangled up in some of the poor choices made that have caused both ourselves and others pain. Perhaps you are the recipient of someone else’s bad decisions, and you’re not quite sure how to move forward.
As I have shared with my reader’s before, getting hijacked by the things of my past is something of which I am vulnerable. Even if I could live my life with twenty-twenty hindsight, I will still make mistakes because neither I nor others are perfect. The most important truth to keep in mind is that God is already aware of our nature to falter from time to time and He doesn’t want us to get stuck in the mire of mistakes.
While visiting Israel over the last couple of weeks, our group saw a lot of different terrain. We drove for miles sometimes without ever seeing anything green that would indicate life in any way. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, vegetation would appear, and we knew water must be present, even though we couldn’t see it. God told the prophet, Isaiah, that He would make “a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” That Way is Jesus!
Do not be deceived into thinking you are the sum of your past; that is a lie! We cannot rewrite our history, but with Jesus Christ, our present and future can flourish in the springs of new life. He is Living Water. Let’s be thankful and will you join me by expressing a heartfelt, AMEN?
Sherry Sharp