Looking Back or Looking Ahead?
Regardless of what you do in life there will be times when you are tempted to look back and “miss the good old days” or wish for simpler times.
Having been at Friendship Church for almost 6 years and in full time ministry for 16 there have been more than a few times where I’ve caught myself looking back. Whether it’s wishing people would have chosen a different path, or that we’d have handled something differently, or just longing for the way things used to be. I’ve found that temptation is lurking around just about every corner.
I was having one of those times this last weekend and God brought to my memory a passage in Ezra. The people who had been held captive in Babylon had returned and begun re-building the temple, and amongst that group were those who had seen the first temple in all of it’s grandeur and awesomeness. The people had worked tirelessly to lay the foundation and once that had been completed the leaders gathered the people together for a massive celebration and a remembrance of God’s promises to His people if they would honor him. In the midst of this time the foundation of the new Temple was revealed and those who had never seen the old Temple began to cheer with enthusiasm, but those who had seen the previous one had a different reaction:
But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. – Ezra 3:12
I was immediately convicted of my hindsight faith, and I prayed this simple prayer:
“God, don’t let me be so wrapped up in what was or what could have been that I miss what can be. Don’t let me whine about the past and in doing so forfeit my future.”
If you’ve been caught in this looking back or hindsight faith, I’d like to encourage you to pray this same simple prayer and begin looking forward. Because you past was simply the prelude to your future!
