"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and river in the desert."
Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV
When my children were small, one of our favorite movies to watch together was a Disney film called "Meet The Robinsons". The story had a central theme about a lost boy looking to find where he belonged in the world because he was an orphan and had never felt the love of family. But there was one thing that caught my attention and has never left me since. It was the phrase that came to be the main character's mantra, "Keep Moving Forward." It reminds me not to dwell on my failures or my setbacks but to keep pressing onwards towards my goals.
Moving forward reminds me of a visit to the zoo a few years ago and something I learned while I was there. Have you ever saw a kangaroo back up? Me neither but I am told that it is near to impossible. What about an emu? Nope, that poor bird can't do it either and both of these animals come from a continent and country that I dream to visit someday Australia. These two animals are featured on Australia's national coat of arms. Not just because they are both native to the continent but because neither can easily back up. It is a great example of a nation committed to moving forward. In fact, when I researched it, I found some early versions had the inscription on them, "Advance Australia."
In the same way, God has made us to move forward, not backward. All you have to do is try to turn your head to look behind you. You can turn your head left and right and up and down but no matter how hard you try you can't look directly behind you. Your neck just isn't designed to look behind you. We don't have to look hard into God's word to find an illustration of looking forward and never backward than when God commanded Lot when he was fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah not to turn back lest he is turned into a pillar of salt. And what does his lovely bride do? She can't help but turn back and see what destruction is befalling the folks in their former community. And God being God was true to His word and turned her immediately into a pillar of salt.
And just like Lot's wife, we can become paralyzed when we only look to the past and when we fail to see the future that God has planned for our lives. For some of us, our pasts are dark and scary places. Places that we don't want to relive or visit for anything. For others, the past is a time of peace and tranquility that they long to return to. Both of these are just as damaging. We can't go back. We can't look back. We can't fail to look forward and see exactly where it is that we are going in our lives. There are always new and exciting things that God is doing in our lives, new visions and dreams that He wants to place in our hearts but we will never realize them if we keep looking back on the past.
The past is there to teach us but we should never tarry there too long. We can use our past experiences to influence and teach those that are less experienced in life than we are and that is our gift to those coming behind us. We have to always remember to keep moving forward.
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