No Future in Looking Back

Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 12:24, Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

Any one of us who has ever sinned against the LORD, if we are honest with ourselves, have struggled doing what Samuel is instructing Israel to do. Israel had sinned against the LORD by asking for a human king to lead them and had been brought face to face with how wicked their sin was. Fear came upon them after God sent thunder and rain, upon Samuel’s request. Now Israel has God’s forgiveness and Samuel is instructing them in what they must do in response to that forgiveness. I would like to point out that there is one thing that Samuel does not instruct them to do, look back. What they had chosen and what they did was in the past and could not be changed. His instructions to them consisted of what they were to do going forward. God’s plan is never for us to keep looking backwards while He is trying to move us forward. In Luke 9 Jesus called on some to follow Him. Each one gave Him an excuse why they could not follow Him. His response to them in verse 62 was, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Each of those people wanted to return home and “take care” of something that they felt was unfinished or needed attention. We do this with our past far too often. The devils convince us that in order to continue following Jesus, we must go back to the past and somehow fix what cannot be changed; what Jesus has already forgiven and used to work in us to change us and make us more like Him. Jesus, on the other hand, simply says, “Follow Me.” Samuel was simply saying to Israel, do not look back. You asked for a king, you have your king. Now, fear God with a reverent fear. In other words, be in awe of the LORD. Be in awe of how marvelous He is that He would forgive such transgressions. Be in awe of the power He has already demonstrated and of what you know He has already done for His people. “Consider what great things He has done for you.” They were instructed to fear and serve God, not so that He could do great things for them, but because He has already done great things for them. He had already proved that He will be faithful to them, even after they have been unfaithful to Him. In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul wrote of the struggle that existed within him between the spirit and the flesh. He concluded this in verse 25, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” In Philippians 3:13-14, he gives us the answer to being able to move forward when we have failure in our past, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” So we too are called to stop looking back and focus on our forward-moving relationship with Jesus. Samuel pointed out a very important aspect of Israel’s future walk and relationship with the LORD. They were not only to fear Him and serve Him, but they were to do this in truth and with all their heart. Jesus too said that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). In speaking with the Samaritan woman in John 4:23, Jesus said, “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” It is not enough to put the past behind us. We must look forward, having a reverent fear of God, serve Him, but do it in truth. In other words, God’s desire is that we continue to walk with Him, being doers of His Word and not just hearers (James 1). As we see who we are in the mirror of His Word, rather than get stuck where we are or living in what we were, we are to not forget what we saw in His mirror and allow Him to make us into who we should be, as we move forward with Him. If we want to remember the past, let us remember how good He has been to us, in spite of us, and fear Him, serve Him in truth, but keep moving forward, because there is future in looking back.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).