Don't Dwell On The Past

This morning I was reminded of something that popped into my mind a few days back when I was walking our big dog, and I thought it a welcome encouragement again.  

I walk our Great Pyrenees every day I am home, taking the same 1.5 mile route to the local park, around the park and back home.  It is her favorite thing to do and she waits every morning for me to put on my shoes as she knows that means we are going to the park.  Normally she spends the whole time out at the end of her 25ft leash, sniffing, running ahead, checking every tree for squirrels, sniffing every suspicious brach or pile of leaves.  There are often other people walking, running, and sometimes people walking dogs.  Generally she ignores the other dogs, goes up the people for pets, but doesn't really let these distract her from the task at hand, sniffing and marking her way around the park.

One day, earlier this week, there was a woman walking her two little dogs about a block behind us as we walked the half mile loop at the park. I don't know what caught Tilly's attention, but she kept stopping and looking back at that women and her dogs for almost half the way around the loop.  I was constantly having to pull hard on her leash to get her to turn around and walk the way she always does.  In the midst of her constantly looking behind her, she completely missed sniffing one whole half of the park.  It was actually a bit annoying because it was taking much longer than normal, and she is a heavy dog, and my arm was actually getting tired.

As I was in the midst of this experience I heard the Lord say, "this is just what it is like when someone is constantly dwelling on the past!"  

As He said those words, I could immediately imagine Him working hard to move us, His beloved sons and daughters, forward into the plans and purposes He has for them, and some of us, those who constantly dwelling on the past, are missing the life and opportunities all around us!  We resist moving forward because we are constantly looking back.

I am reminded of two sets of verses this morning, the first being from Isaiah and the second from Paul.  Here are the verses - Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV:

[18] “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. [19] See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."

- and - 

Philippians 3:13-14 NIV:

[13] "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Both of these are encouragements to look forward to stop looking behind, and I think they are helpful in our daily faith relationship with the Lord.  He does want us to remember how He has worked i our lives in the past, for He had the Israelites build markers of remembrance, so they would remember His provision, His faithfulness, and His intervention in their lives.

The enemy tries to get us to look backwards, to condemn us, to accuse God of not being there, anything he can to get us distracted or introspective, missing all that is happening around us.  God is constantly moving forward, creating and available to us in the present, and if we aren't living in the present we miss Him, we miss encountering Him, and we miss the opportunities to see Him move (see Is 45:19).  He can heal our past, and help us move past our history, but that is accomplished in the present, today, or in the future.  

I can always tell when the enemy is attacking me as I find myself remembering my failures or difficult things in my past.  I have loved ones who can't forget, forgive or move past things that happened in the past, and it is sad to see them missing all of life that is in front of them.  They can't accept people for the who they are now, they can't get past what happened and they relive that old pain over and over and it is crippling and causing them to be bitter!  Oh Lord, set them free!

I am grateful I don't usually struggle with dwelling on the past, for I can see how it would limit my pressing into the new things, towards the things of God!  

Reflecting back on my dog's walk, if I was patient and merciful like our Father, I would have taken her around the park one more complete time so that she could enjoy the fullness of the experience.  The Lord, in His goodness, will, at times, bring us back through similar things so that we can encounter Him anew, in ways we missed while dwelling on the past.  I heard that jokingly referred as going back around the mountain again, to learn what we missed or didn't learn the last time. 

In the same way that a child that doesn't ever crawl doesn't develop an important part of their brain (see:  https://thefnc.com/research/crawling-is-important-for-childhood-brain-development/), when we miss things of God in our present, we miss learning from those experiences, and growing in our understanding of Him.  The good news is that you can teach an older child to crawl and those parts of the brain do develop.  God, in His infinite patience and mercy, doesn't punish us for missing things, He teaches us in new ways, but the new ways are always in the present, or near-future. 

This morning I am encouraged to press forward into the new things He is doing!  

Let us press forward to discover the new things, that we might perceive it and encounter Him!  

Amen and Amen!