How are you doing with those resolutions you made last year, or last week? The
beginning of a new year is a good time to re-evaluate -- your health, your
habits, your finances, your relationships... If you made a resolution last year
to, for instance, get more exercise and lose some weight, now is a good time to
take a fresh look at that. Did you just make that resolution last week? So how
are you doing? Are you walking more, spending more time at the gym, or at least
doing some isometrics at your desk at work? Are you eating healthier? Have you
lost any weight since 1/1/2013, or since 1/1/2014?
Looking
back at yesterday can be helpful. It helps us gauge our success or failure with
plans we have made. If we have been successful, we need to commemorate those
successes. We need to do something tangible to remind ourselves that we have accomplished
a very big task. Perhaps before and after photos placed either on the fridge or
just above the bathroom scales might be an appropriate trophy of a year of
healthier living. Perhaps a simple note in your wallet, showing the amount of
your credit card debt at the beginning of 2013 compared with your debt at the
beginning of 2014 would commemorate your getting your finances under control.
Perhaps a recent photo on your desk of someone with whom you have reconciled
during the year would remind you of how far you have come in your relationship
with that person.
In
the 7th chapter of 1st Samuel, we are told the story of how the children of
Israel had turned their backs on God. They served foreign gods, and they
worshipped idols. They were fearful of the Philistines who were nearing them to
do battle with them. They knew that Samuel was a prophet sent from God, so they
went to him and asked him to plead to God on their behalf to save them from the
Philistines. Samuel told the people that if they would turn back to God with
all their hearts, do away with their idols, prepare their hearts for God, and
serve Him only, that God would protect them from their enemy. So the people
gathered in an area called Mizpah, fasted, offered sacrifices to God, and
confessed their sins to Him. When the Philistines heard that the children of
Israel had gathered in one place, they thought that would be a good time to
attack. As they were preparing to attack, the Israelites again became afraid,
so they went to Samuel again, asking him to continue to cry out in prayer to
God for their protection. So Samuel again offered a sacrifice, crying out to
God for protection, as the Philistines drew nearer and nearer. But God sent a
very loud clap of thunder that so confounded the Philistines that the men of
Israel pursued them and easily drove them back. As a symbol of remembrance,
Samuel erected a stone monument that he called Ebenezer, which means,
"Thus far, the Lord has helped us." (See 1 Samuel 7:12.)
We
need to erect similar monuments that will remind us, our children, and our
friends when God has helped us through a crisis or when He has helped us
accomplish something that we could not have done otherwise. When we find
ourselves in other terrifying situations or facing other seemingly impossible
obstacles, we can look back on those monuments and remember how God was
faithful to us then, knowing that He will continue to be faithful to us today,
tomorrow, and for the rest of our lives.
However,
looking back can also be destructive. If you see nothing but regret,
disappointment, or guilt when you look back at yesterday, remember that those
are tools of Satan, not of God. You can use those emotions to show you that a
change needs to be made, propelling you to do better today and tomorrow, but if
you find yourself dwelling on the negatives of yesterday, you will find
yourself stuck living in the past. Instead, ponder the following verses:
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered. (Psalm 32:1)
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts; Let him return to the Lord,
and He will have mercy on him; And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
(Isaiah 55:7)
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
He
who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God. (John 3:17-18)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old
things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians
5:17)
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. (Hebrews 8:12)
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22)
I
hope that you will trust God today with all your tomorrows. Yesterday is gone
with its successes and with its failures. We can learn from those successes and
failures, but we should not dwell on them. We can thank God for them, whether
they taught us a positive lesson or a negative one. But they are in the past,
and we cannot do a thing to change them. We CAN change how they affect us today
and tomorrow by learning from them and by using them as a beginning point for
positive change.
My
prayer for myself and for you this week is similar to the prayer Samuel prayed
for the children of Israel. It is taken from James 4:7-8,10:
Therefore (help us to) submit to God. (Help us to) resist
the devil and he will flee from (us). (Help us to) draw near to God and He will
draw near to (us). Cleanse (our) hands, you sinners; and purify (our) hearts,
you double-minded. Humble (us) in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift (us)
up.
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