“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19
Were you happy to see the passing of 2021? Personally, 2021 and 2020 were rough years, so I was happy to wave “goodbye” to both.
At the beginning of each new year I find this verse encouraging. God tells us not to remember, not to consider or dwell on (keep in our minds, playing it over and over) what has passed. We can’t change anything that has happened … any action … any words. They are former things, things of old. Don’t beat yourself up with what can’t be changed.
But, God does tell us what to remember … what to keep in our minds. Remember Him, remember His power to change circumstances … His power to forgive … to redeem…. to bring good where evil was intended.
“I remember the days of old, I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands.” Psalm 143:5
Yes, look back—but only to see what God has done, how He has brought you through … His faithfulness. When we focus on God’s holiness, His purity, His compassion, His power, we grow in faith and receive His strength to overcome the flaws of the past. In this coming year may we look for God to make the way for us through our wilderness and find refreshment at His river in our desert. His way is better.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the LORD. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9“
by Marilyn Allison