Brooding over the past

Read: Psalm 139:1-12,23-24

See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. —Psalm 139:24 

In the opening game of the 2001 football season, a mistake by the University of Colorado cost the team a chance to play for the national championship. When coach Gary Barnett was asked about it, he said, “We don’t think about it. I learned a long time ago: Don’t trip on something behind you.” Barnett was busy recruiting new players and preparing for a holiday bowl game and had no time to dwell on the past.

We all need to live in the present. But what about the mistakes we deeply regret? How can we deal with past sins and failures that still weigh us down? Oswald Chambers, speaking of the sadness of what might have been, said: “Never be afraid when God brings back the past. Let memory have its way. It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow. God will turn the ‘might have been’ into a wonderful culture [source of nourishment and growth] for the future.”

The psalmist asked God to search his heart and see if there was any wicked way in him, so that he might confess it and be forgiven. Then he added, “Lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).

God does not want us to be imprisoned by yesterday, but to be free for today and tomorrow.

Calvary covers it all,

My past with its sin and stain;

My guilt and despair Jesus took on Him there,

And Calvary covers it all. —Taylor

Brooding over the past paralyzes the present and bankrupts the future.

 

Verse of the Day

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE...

God knows us. We can't pretend we are something we are not with him. This should liberate us to a remarkable degree of intimacy, but most of us run from such a close relationship with God. If our desire, however, is to become more like him, the only way to be transformed is by inviting him and looking at our heart, our motivations, and our desires.

MY PRAYER...

O God, I know you are the one who "searches hearts and minds" yet because of the grace you demonstrated in Jesus, I am confident that you love me. My heart is sorry for the sin I have committed, but I am really trying to serve you in honor and purity. Please fill me with your Spirit to enable me to become more like Christ. In the name of your holy Son I pray. Amen.