Isaiah 43:18 "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old"

Have you ever played that silly game of 'Would You Rather' with a group of friends when you were younger?
Would you rather be an astronomer or archeologist? Would you rather time-travel or have x-ray vision? Then as we get a little older, maybe during a weekend getaway with the girls, the questions have a bit more weight, like 'would you rather get a glimpse of your future or relive an episode from your past?' Good question. Who knows why we choose one thing over the other?
More times than I care to admit, I've chosen the past over the future without even realizing it. I've been prone to looking back, sifting through the salvage yard of my life, shining up circumstances I've indeed been rescued from. Unfortunately, sometimes we look back so much, we get stuck there.
I know there are countless times I've failed to look ahead with faith and throw off everything that once entangled me. (Hebrews 12:1). I guess you could say, I've been Lot's wife (Genesis 19:26) - having had a chance to run toward hope, but letting my emotions derail me from my desired destination. The most relatable thing about this nameless woman, was that she had ONE job. Okay, maybe two (run and don't look back!), but both were so straightforward. If she had JUST obeyed. So, I declare - she had ONE job. This all-too-relatable woman has been memorialized throughout the ages as a pillar of salt - a literal preservative, because of her desire to savor the very thing she was being rescued from.
I've often contemplated why it was so important she didn't look back, didn't preserve what her sight beheld. We know she was running with her family which means the next generation - her children - were watching. When the next generation is watching, they are learning. What were they learning from her during this miraculous and daring rescue? Disobedience? Disregard?
The scriptures give us another example of someone who would be asked to contemplate the choices of a Would You Rather proposition. That person made the choice to obey. Even though it may have been just as hard, this person also had to flee everything they ever knew, and in faith trust God with a seemingly uncertain future. Now we all know his name - Moses. He obeyed. He trusted. He took the long, hard, exhausting way - and the next generation - his children - were watching. Remind me where they ended up? Ah, yes...the Promised Land.
Jesus is always rescuing us in one way or another. Always leading us to a better land. A more fruitful future.
Perhaps in the midst of 2020, the most uncertain year I can remember, you are in the midst of being rescued and don't even realize it - because of the change, and change is scary.
I challenge you to put one foot in front of the other and don't look back. Don't memorialize the past. Don't ponder what might have been. Don't panic over the future. Instead, set your mind on things above. Set your sights on what lies ahead.
If you're walking with God, the unknown, as scary as it seems, always leads to the Promised Land.
If only 75% of you is headed in the right direction, submit that remaining 25% to Jesus and trust him for the future. Remember His promises. Tell them to your children. Moses' faith in God's promise led him through the perils of the day, away from comfort, to a place of supernatural rest where his eyes finally gazed upon - and his children's feet finally walked upon - that promised land.
Remember, with Jesus there is always more ahead than anything we've left behind.
Wouldn't you rather be a Moses than a...what's her name? Choose wisely. The next generation is watching.
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