The Irreparable Past Meets the Irresistible Future

In today’s devotional from My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers excerpted from Isaiah 52:12, which reads:

But you will not leave in haste or go in flight;for the LORD will go before you,the God of Israel will be your rear guard.Chambers assures us that as we go forth into the coming year, “let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us.”Our world likes to head off in haste, sometimes without remembering with humility what’s past.Or, perhaps I should be honest about myself. I often head off in haste without remembering where I’ve come from and what the Lord has done in my life. Remembering takes time. One must slow down, sit down, and dig down.Part of New Year’s Eve is best spent looking back and remembering with gratitude what the Lord has accomplished. I have cause to celebrate many moments and events as I think back on the year or years before–joys and surprises, insights and encouragement, laughter and love, disciplining and pruning, growth and change.In remembering, however, I dredge up regrets, as well…opportunities lost. Duties neglected. Love left unspoken. Failures. Harsh words slipping out. Goals unmet. Deadlines missed and late fees shelled out. Sins committed, confessed, repented of.Chambers acknowledges this, as well. “Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but…”(take note of what he says next, because it is key to looking ahead)”…God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future.”And that’s how I like to approach any kind of review and goal-setting–with constructive thoughtfulness, resting in Christ for what is past and what is yet to come.I would like to offer Chambers’ closing words as the closing words for 2008 on my blog, before the ball drops, the calendar page turns, and the permalink date on my posts pops up one number to 2009:Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.