Happy New Year!

Isaiah 46:9-10 [Earnestly] remember the former things, [which I did] of old; for I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose,…

Isaiah 43:18-19 DO NOT [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

I love the Bible! It truly has two edges, like a sword. DO NOT earnestly remember the former things! Earnestly remember the former things! Huh?

Oswald Chambers says it best: “…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.”

God is doing a new thing: It’s called 2026! Remember what you can and learn from it. But don’t get stuck there. Grow spiritually. Don’t ignore the choices that landed you where you are today. But don’t take long mulling the past over. Set your sights on God’s New Beginnings. It’s a new day! It’s a new beginning! Take advantage of it. Put the shame of the past behind you through renewed focus on Jesus.