Lamplight
Isaiah
43:18-19
“Remember not the former things nor consider
the things of old.
Behold, I am doing something new, do you not
see it?”
This is the time when you’ll see a
lot of programs on T.V. that look back at the significant events of 2012 and
that is a good idea. Someone who is wise once said, “Those who don’t remember
history are condemned to repeat it.” We
can learn from the past, from our victories and from our mistakes.
I guess that’s why the Bible places
such a high premium on memory. There are
244 verses that call us to remember. For example in Deuteronomy 32 Moses sang
new song about the old days, “Remember the days of old, consider the years of
many generations; ask your father and he will show you the elders and they will
teach you.” In other words those who are
younger should ask those who are older what life was like back then, and how
God moved.
Now the people of Israel were great
for remembering the old days. Read the
Old Testament and much of it sounds like the words of a parent to a teenager
today. “You don’t have to do it just because your friends are doing it. I did
it, and it was a foolish, and I don’t want you to make the same mistakes.”
The Bible tells again and again
that we ought to remember until we hit this prophecy in Isaiah, “Remember not
the former things nor consider the things of old.”
Now, I don’t believe that the Bible
is squaring off against itself; that Moses and Isaiah are at opposite
ends. I don’t believe God has changed
his mind. I think he’s just telling us
we need to have some balance. We need
perspective. Sometimes we can get locked
into the old days. Memory can become a
trap.
That is what happened to Isaiah’s
congregation. For eighty years they had
lived as strangers in a strange land.
Their grandparents had been hauled across a thousand miles of desert by
a conquering Babylon army and there they served as slaves.
To keep the memories alive, every
night after dinner Grandpa would talk about the old days when he lived free in
a land flowing with milk and
honey. He spoke of God and how great God
was and the great things God did and the great men and women of faith who lived
back then. This was good and it was important,
but all of it was in the past tense.
So, after a while that’s the way
people began to look at God – in the past tense. Consequently, few considered that God might
be with them today in the present tense, and fewer still had any notion that
God might do something tomorrow in the future tense.
That’s why God said, “Remember not
the former things nor consider the things of old, behold I am doing something
new, do you not see it?” Do you have
eyes to see and ears to hear?
God
of eternity, we know you old the future in the palm of your hands because you
have promised through your Word, “I know the plans I’ve made for you for your
welfare to give you a future and a hope.” Grant that we may have eyes to see
this hope fulfilled in this coming year and throughout our lives. Amen.