I came across a great pun that goes like this: Why can’t you run through a campground? You can only ran because its past tents. I love the play on words in this pun as it uses “tents” instead of tense.
As I read that pun, I began to think of my past and I have to admit there are many parts of it I want to run away from. It seems the older I get the more I regret actions of my past. I am hounded at times with the thoughts of what I’ve said to other people, the way I’ve treated friends and family, and my actions with those within the Christian community. I have struggled for years with these feelings and often wondered if there was any hope to have a future which carried some form of restoration and peace.
I finally had the courage to share my feelings within a group of Christian men I trust. To my shock, each of them struggled with the same thing at times. Knowing that other people struggled with their past helped, but it did not bring the restoration I desperately wanted. Then the LORD led me to chapter 43 of the Old Testament book Isaiah.
In this chapter the LORD is speaking through Isaiah and comforts His people who are currently under Babylon rule. Verse one reads “But now, this is what the LORD says– he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” There are a lot of great promises in this verse, but I want to focus on three. First, God reminds the people of Israel He is the one who created them. Second, because He created them, He knows them so deeply he calls them by name. Third He tells His people they belong to Him. This verse struck me deeply. The thought in the Hebrew text is God knows me to the depth of my being and in spite of my flaws He claims me for His own.
Although verse one helps me to know I am God’s and He claims me for His own in spite of my failures in life, it does not bring about hope and restoration. I found those deeper within the text in verses 18 and 19. Here Isaiah writes, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 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.” In the original text the last part of verse 19 reads “…rivers in the desert.”
Here is what the one who created me, who calls me His own tells me to do. First forget the former things and do not consider the thing of old (the past). Second, I need to recognize God is doing a new work in me and I need to focus on what he is doing, not what I have done. When I do this, He promises to make a way (a road) in the wilderness, where I struggle with hope and restoration. The road clearly leads out the wilderness where I have thirsted for release from the past. Then He promises restoration by providing live giving water along the way.
God has provided a road and life giving water to bring me out of my wilderness filled with the remembrance of former actions, failures, and defeats. The message is clear, God calls out and says “Forget the past. Come walk with me and be restored.” Why not accept His offer today?