Reminders
Do you ever have times where things from the past just nag at you?
It seems that some days, my past comes back to haunt me. I want to leave those bad feelings/experiences in their place – they are past and done – yet they seem to rise up and integrate themselves into my life in the present, far more than I would like.
It is not just the big items that weasel themselves into my day-to-day thinking. Some days it seems like I can remember every little thing that has gone wrong in my life.
The devil loves to parade a list of our wrongdoings past us. He wants us to remember these difficult things. He wants us to focus on those and feel bad for the less than stellar choices we have made in our lives. His sole purpose is to get us off our game and sidelined from action.
Sometimes it can become a vicious cycle. For example, we have a bad moment where we say something unkind. In our sadness over what we have said, the devil reminds us of all those times when we have exhibited that same behaviour. We get disheartened. Then we get grumpy and the bad moments continue.
How do we manage when Satan’s active campaign is raging? He is out to destroy. He wants us incapacitated.
Take heart as there is good news. Our loving Heavenly Father looks at us in an entirely different manner. His purpose is to enrich our lives, not destroy them. He lovingly reaches out to each of us with His care and compassion.
We learn more about how God interacts with us in Micah:
“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-20 NIV)
There is so much to unpack here. We have an amazing God who forgives ANY wrongdoing if we ask Him to do so. When we have repentant hearts, he forgives any transgressions we make.
Have you ever had a person in your life who likes to bring up your past indiscretions? It’s hard to have a relationship with someone when that keeps happening. Sometimes people’s anger just lashes out again and again, throwing out damaging barbs where we feel hopeless and downtrodden.
God is different. Because of Jesus’ saving work on the cross, God takes our sins and remembers them no more. The analogy in this Scripture verse is hurling them into the depths of the sea. There is no way we are going to retrieve anything that has been dumped into the bottom of the ocean. That’s the way God views our sins when we are repentant – they are GONE.
With His loving grace, our Heavenly Father doesn’t keep a list of our wrongdoing. We can live in hope and happiness because we have a God who delights in showing us mercy. We no longer have the burden of sin, because Christ took it from us.
God certainly doesn’t want us to carry the burden of our past and has made the way so we don’t have to.
When those nagging doubts or past remembrances creep into your thinking, remember to tell Satan – sorry you are not buying into his games. Grab onto the hope we have in Christ and live in peace and joy as a redeemed child of God.
Enter your email below and don’t miss out on the next blog posts.
We post weekly – Offering hope and encouragement.
