It can’t be denied. Sometimes our past — especially our mistakes and failures, our hurts and disappointments — has a tendency to drag us down. Relationships gone sour imprison us in a cycle of rehashing who said what, who did what. Words spoken harshly, hastily are indelibly imprinted on our minds. We get stuck, unable to move forward because of being fixated on the past.
I’m not saying that we sweep these things under the carpet. They need to be acknowledged. Often, forgiveness is necessary (a topic for another time). But it’s important not to dwell there.
Dwelling on the past distorts the present and blurs the future. It inhibits our ability to have hope. To be positive. To overcome the inertia that paralyzes and crushes us.
Reflective person that I am, I’ve been mulling over — again! — a story in the Old Testament of the Bible about the scouting expedition Moses, the leader of the Israelites, sent twelve men on. (See my blog posted August 12, 2023… linked below if you’d like to check it out!)
Moses had been leading a HUGE group of people (over 600,000 men — so even more when you add in the women and children) from Egypt, where they had been in slavery, to the Promised Land. Twelve men were sent to spy out the land. Ten came back with a negative report. All they saw were obstacles. But two saw things in a totally different light. They saw possibilities. They saw the land as exceedingly GOOD!
Fast forward forty years. This horde of people STILL hadn’t gotten to their destination. They had been wandering around in the desert because of some bad choices they had made. Moses, now a VERY old man, was intentionally looking back... reminding the people of where they had come from and lessons (hopefully!) learned through their journey… as they looked forward to entering their future homeland.
He reminded the people of the twelve spies… and the fact that the report given by the ten distorted their ability to trust God.
- You were unwilling to go up [to the land of Canaan].
- You rebelled against the command of God.
- You grumbled in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so He brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of [our enemies].”
- Our brothers have made us lose heart.
- (See Deuteronomy 1: 26-28)
Wow. Their grumbling surfaced a wrong view of God (“He hates us!”). They forgot why they had left Egypt in the first place. They focused on how the ten viewed the inhabitants of the land instead of how God viewed them. They lost heart. They were terrified and afraid. They forgot how “God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” (Deuteronomy 1:31)
Looking backward was painful. It rehearsed past failures… but it was meant to be instructive. To inform the Israelites’ future choices and decisions. To focus on the goodness, patience, and great love of God.
He never gave up on them.
Backward glance… forward FOCUS…
That’s how I need to approach life as well. Learn from my failures, mistakes, hurts, disappointments… but not get stuck there. Remember who I am and who God is… and focus on what HE says is true about me as opposed to how others may try to define me. Focus on a future based on God’s story versus the narrative the media feeds us. And if we do this, my friends, together we can have joy in the journey of this thing called “Life!”
Joy in the Journey 
thank you for this great reminder Mary !
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And thanks for this feedback! Appreciate it — and you, dear friend! ❤️
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This is true of me also, Mary. I appreciate your honesty because I feel less than spiritual because of my past as a Christian. I know I have been forgiven and in some instances asked forgiveness; but, sometimes the consequences of words, poor decisions and actions are what haunt me. But having said that, I do look forward to the day when I reach heaven and all the past (and present) will be erased and complete joy and perfection will be the replacement!
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