Exiting the Past

Last Sunday, I delievered the talk to prepare us for the Lord's Supper. Most of the time when I am tasked with this I think back to the Israelite people and their period of slavery and deliverance in Egypt. That set me thinking all week long about the fact that they had to spend 40 years in wandering in the wilderness. But for what purpose? Was it just because the 10 spies returned with an unfavorable report and stirred up fear in the people? Was it because of the lack of faith the people had even after God had already done so much in bringing them out of Egypt?

I suspicious that part of the reason that they ended up spending the time wandering in the desert for 40 years was their attitude. The minute they hit their first setback on the path of freedom, they complained and longed to return to Egypt as slaves. Any crisis that occured, any obstacle that arose, they longed to trade freedom for slavery. They wanted to trade their future for their past. So much time spent dwelling on the past fostered an attitude among the people that, regardless of what miracles God displayed in their presence, they were not able to progress to a level of faith that would enable them to enter the Promised Land. Their backwards looking robbed them of what lay ahead. And so, they wandered until all those who had been slaves in Egypt had died in the wilderness.

Those left didn't dwell on their past slavery because all they had known was the desert. They knew the stories, but they didn't experience it the same way as their fathers and mothers before them. They could remember the past, but they weren't absorbed with it. They knew God took care of them for the past 40 years, feeding them, making sure their clothes didn't wear out, etc. So when it came time to enter Canaan, they were ready, both physically and spiritually. They believed that God would deliver the land to them because they had walked with him for 40 years.

Tonights Small Group was dealing with giving the past to God so that we are not dwelling on it. If we learn anything from the Israelites wayward wanderings, it's that longing for the past inhibits the capacity of God being able to fulfill our future to a certain degree. If we are so busy looking and dwelling on are past mistakes and longing for our past life, then what miracles are we missing out on that God is doing in our lives? How are we to appreciate what he is doing for us today if all we think about is yesterday?

I think Paul has the right attitude when we wrote:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14 NIV)