We can't live in the past. We must face each day squarely and honestly and tackle the responsibilities and issues that face us. Yet, there is an important role for the past. This week Shirley and I are moving out of a home we've lived in for 22 years. Our youngest daughter, Bethany, was born 3 weeks after we moved in and it's the only home she's known. There is a doorframe in one of the closets where we marked the height of the girls as they grew. Memories of Christmases, birthdays, first days of school, the girls getting picked up for proms saturate this place. I am reminded today that memories help anchor us and serve as signposts of the Lord's rich love toward us. As we go through our lives, sometimes trials and problems try to rip us from our peace. But we have specific memories of the Lord's healing, protection, provision for our family, and salvation that can not be denied and that help us cling to Him, as our rock, no matter how swift the current may be that seeks to carry us away. No, we can't live in the past. But from the past we can draw confidence that our unchanging Lord will continue to carry us.
Deuteronomy 7:17 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’— 18 you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
blessings,
Rob Smith
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