Tag: Past

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Refusing to listen.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

““Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your very own possession. I am the Lord!’” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭6‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Exodus constantly reminds me of God’s promises and how diligent He is in keeping every single one of them. God’s promises are dependable and durable. Exodus also reminds me of the power of God’s will. God always accomplishes what He sets out to do. Of course it’s most impressive to me because I know I am, we are, LINEAR. We have a beginning, a short middle and an end. We can’t see ahead, and far too often our memories lose clarity as we look back in our history. In our humanness things fade and get foggy!

In these verses I see the strength of God’s words, “I will.” God will free, will redeem, will get them to the promised land and will gift that land to His people. Every single “I will” statements are now “He did!” How all this all plays out with our free choice and our own autonomy is still a mystery. Maybe someday I will understand, but for now I just know God is true, just and right – faithful to be and do exactly what He says.

I can barely grasp the idea of God being atemporal (outside of time), which allows Him to be omniscient (all knowing). I tend to think of it as God being able to look back from eternity and see backwards. But that’s not how it really works. God sees everything NOW. Everything is eternally PRESENT to God. God perceives all moments at once, unlike us who experience time sequentially.

Right after these profound messages God delivers to Moses, a very sad moment takes place. “So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery,”‭‭ Exodus‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬. Again, my perception was that the people were just stubborn – like most of us! But Moses records a very real fact that influences all of us, even today. They had become “too discouraged!” Oh. That hits home.

The brutality of slavery, over too many years, had stolen their hope, had broken their spirits. The men, women and children living this story would be the ones to eventually experience freedom from Egypt, but the oldest among them could never really believe it. The old people would die in the desert BEFORE God’s promise and His will would be fulfilled! They were literally free, but still died as slaves in their hearts and minds. The brutality of their experiences in their past had permanently handicapped their ability to live free in the future! Even with all of God’s power to keep His promise and His will to accomplish what He determined, they could not find freedom.

There are countless people I Pastor that are determined to allow their past to dictate their future. Because of deep and profound trauma, or unfathomable pain people have experienced in their past, we still feel victimized, hurt and even ashamed – we just can’t let it go! It handicaps us, locking us in a prison of the past. God says, “I will,” but our experiences say, “I can’t” – at least not in my life. God can free us from our oppression (past pain inflicted on us). God can rescue us from the brutality of slavery (subjected to power not of our own doing). But we must listen and let it go. Give it to our Savior! Let God accomplish His good will in you and through you. Because God really is good ALL THE TIME.

Prayer

​Dad,
The decision to let go of my past, my pain, and my sin, has not been a single decision. Instead, it has been a process throughout my life, since I said yes to you. When I am haunted or humiliated by my past, I have to choose to listen to you and not the lies the enemy relishes to remind me of. I determine to listen and say “YES” as often as I can. Your words are life to me. Your will is freedom for me. I am forever grateful that you called my name and adopted me as your son!

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Highlight reels of life.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Pray for peace in Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “May you have peace.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭122‬:‭6‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In this psalm David starts off ecstatically and enthusiastically expressing how he feels coming to the temple, the highlight of the city of Jerusalem. “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Jerusalem, being the city of God, and the temple representing the presence of God, this psalm was sung as the Jewish people made their way back to their homeland after 70 years of Babylonian captivity. David had written this at a time when all things were good in the kingdom!

You know as people, we love reminiscing and reliving the highlight reels of our life. Remember when things were so good? We talk about the seasons, long gone, that were exciting, and everything worked so well. Maybe it was that season of a grand adventure or vacation, when the children were happy and everyone got along. Maybe it was the time when the church was full and everyone could sense the presence of God. Life was grand, the city, the house, even our job felt like it was all going so well. Those were the kinds of moments David was writing about, while he was king of that era in Jerusalem.

Yet, this psalm was inserted at the end of David’s life. And, this psalm was sung as the people were returning to absolute devastation of their beloved city. There was no temple, no protective walls – houses, businesses, parks and plazas had all been destroyed. This song of remembrance was sung to enlist gratefulness and hope in the hearts of the people. It was not sung to go back to “those” days! Instead it was sung to rebuild confidence and faith that God was with them – therefore He will help them rebuild to make a new Jerusalem, with new memories, fresh moments of glory and peace!

The best way to use the highlight reels of life is not to try to relive them, but to parlay those memories into building new ones. Don’t get stuck, like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation trapped in his attic watching old film reels of his childhood. Make new moments! And make them matter!

Thank God for what was, then move on to thank God for what will be.

Ache to create a sense of peace and prosperity of a future city, church, or season where God will meet us once again. Keep moving forward. Moving forward does not tarnish the past, it honors it.

Prayer

​Dad,
It is so hard to have grand and happy memories of past seasons and NOT go back, regressing into wanting something similar to happen in the future. Time is such a bizarre experience as a human! Yet, my head knows that I cannot go back, I cannot experience the past in the present nor the future. I think this has a lot to do with faith and trust. You are not just outside of time, with you it is always NOW. We live sequentially. Plus, the fact that we don’t know the future and could not handle it well even if we were told. One thing I get from your Word is that Israel was told time and time again and warned over and over again, yet they had little chance of recognizing your promises coming to pass, even when it happened right in front of them. Even though the disciples were told what Jesus was going to do and what he would go through. I believe that none of them got it until they experienced it in their past. Until Jesus left. I’m convinced it is near impossible to process what happens in the now, trying to understanding what is happening while in the present – while we are in a specific season, good or bad. You have created us to live linear, one season, one step at a time – no skipping, no shortcuts, no tap-outs. It takes courageous boldness to continue to move forward in faith. I think that’s why our faith in you is pleasing to you.

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How to return home.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! Psalms‬ ‭111‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Psalm 111 is a tribute, written by Ezra the high priest and scribe, AFTER returning from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. To be clear, everyone knew why Israel was taken into slavery. The citizens had not only walked away from God, disregarding His laws and warnings, they had given themselves wholly to other gods, foreign gods – FAKE gods! God’s prophets, His spokespersons had been warning both the leaders of Israel and the prominent families to turn their hearts back to God. Israel consistently chose to do their own thing. Now, after 70 years, their city, their temple was decimated. Their kings, dead. Their brothers and sisters in the ten tribes that had split off from the whole, lost forever. The only ones to return were the remnants, the “root of Jesse,” as they were called.

Yet, in all this loss and penitence. In their humility, they found their heart for God. In mass they repented and made the journey back to rebuild what had been destroyed. Even though their hope was a flickering flame, a smoldering wick, just barely showing light, they remembered their God. Ezra writes, “He causes us to remember his wonderful works.” In complete misery of loss they remembered God and their own hearts turned, once again, towards Him!

How does one come back from devastation? How does one return to rebuild their entire life? How does one find hope in their future? Israel recognized their sin and remembered their God! Captivity wasn’t God’s fault, it was His love and discipline, going to extremes to keep His people from complete and utter destruction. The human heart, left to its own desires, will crash and burn and destroy everyone and everything around them. We are desperately wicked and strive against God to have our own way and do our own thing. God intervened, putting the nation in timeout until they came to their senses.

Psalm 111 captures the results of them turning their hearts towards God as they make their final assent back up to the city of Jerusalem. Ezra, returning and reflecting on the years of loss, looked up the road to Jerusalem. Then his eyes continued to look up, high into the heavens and thank God. What do you do to return? You look back and see your own decisions that led to devastation. You look up the road to see the restoration of your own future. And, you look even higher, to see God and thank Him for His righteousness, grace and mercy. This is the lesson of Psalm 111. Don’t quit. Don’t wallow. Don’t wait! Come home.

Prayer

​Dad,
What awaits us when we return home? Is it judgment, shame and humiliation? No! What awaits us is exactly what awaited Ezra and Your people – righteousness, grace and mercy. You want us to win. You want us to be well. You want us to live! Thank you oh Lord, for the means of mercy to see our failures and poor decisions. Thank you for the gift of seeing our past with the ability to turn to you and see our future. Thank you for real and genuine hope in the plans you have for us, if we would just turn and return. Amen.