|
|
"You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the
Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard"
Security from Yesterday. “. . . God requires an account of what is past”
(Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that
God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our
yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the
memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays,
and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual
growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very
shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. “. . . the Lord will go before you . . . .” This is a
gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to
do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same
failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s
hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste . . . .” As we go forth
into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful
delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out
with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our
yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have
lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this
destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the
past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the
invincible future with Him.
Isaiah
52:12
Yesterday | Daily Devotional Archives | Next
See Also:
Daily Devotional with Oswald Chambers Archives
Weekly Devotionals | Sermons | Essays | Articles | Bible Study | Library - Home | Baselios Church Home
-------
Malankara World
A service of St. Basil's Syriac Orthodox
Church, Ohio
Copyright © 2009-2020 - ICBS Group. All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer
Website designed, built, and hosted by
International Cyber Business Services, Inc., Hudson, Ohio
