Joshua 8:20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
Ah my Friends, on another beautiful morn, with God still on His throne, the ole fella’s here to pass along some friendly advice; that too much looking back is unhealthy. It can cause a myriad of problems, that’s why we’re always advised to look toward the future rather than back to the past. But by the same token, we must review our past every so often, because it’s our history, and we need to understand what went wrong yesterday so we can correct it today. If we do it properly, we can get helpful indicators in terms of where we’ve come from, where we’re at, and where we’re going. As Nat Cole said in his song, ‘Looking Back’; ‘Looking back over my life, I can see where you caused me strife…’ That’s a good indicator to stay away from or be careful of a certain person. Also, ‘I can see signs wise men heed…’ Now that’s something all of us should learn from. In that sense we all need to look back occasionally to judge our progress. The problems develop though, when instead of simply using the past to help us improve, we continue living there. Oh Friends, living without growing or improving is a sad waste of a good life, and if we keep repeating the same mistakes, never learning from them, then we’ll surely end up in a sorry state. Have you ever noticed that those who live in the past are usually sour, bitter and unhappy, because they let their previous mistakes control their lives and subsequently ruin them. As with everything in life my people, we have to develop a fair balance; not too much of any one thing. Bruh Paul put it famously; moderation in all things. Too many of us though insist on rehashing the past and dwelling on the hurts and disappointments we find there; stuff that we can’t do anything about. The Good Book has several instances of where looking back has brought severe misfortune. I guess the most famous is Lot’s wife, when running from the fiery demise of Sodom and Gomorrah. Although explicitly directed not to look back, she did and became a pillar of salt. (Gen.19:15-26) Then there’s also Today’s Bit, where the Lord devised a most ingenious strategy for Joshua and the Israelites to capture the city of Ai. In the evening, they secretly set up troops on two sides of the city, then Joshua and his group went to the front, so that they could be seen. In the morning the men of Ai came out to do battle against Joshua’s group, totally unaware of the other groups lying in ambush. As they approached, Joshua and his men acted as though they were beaten and ran towards the wilderness with the men of Ai in hot pursuit. ‘And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand.’ (Josh 8:18) That acted as a sign for the troops in hiding to rise up, go into the city and set it on fire. ‘And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.’ Yes my Friends, when the men of Ai turned to look back at their burning city, Joshua and his group, who’d been running away, now turned back and began attacking the men of Ai. Then the Israelites that were burning the city came back out and caught the poor souls of Ai in a murderous crossfire, from which none of them escaped, except the king, who was later hanged. Note here Friends, the difference between Saul and Joshua in terms of obedience. The Lord told Joshua to completely destroy them, except in this case they could have the spoil. Joshua complied completely, while Saul did not. Anyway my people, unfortunate things tend to happen to us when we look back on our lives, our past mistakes with regrets and wallow in them instead of learning from them and moving forward. Disaster is the usual result when we dwell on the only if I had done this or that. We rob ourselves of hope, of the joy to be found in the mercy, grace and forgiveness of our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: ‘Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.’ (2 Cor.1:10) Yes Friends, Jesus has delivered us from the peril of death, is still delivering us, and we have a great hope that He will continue to do so. But if we live in the past with a regretful attitude, we lose that hope for a better tomorrow. And the current sad, sorry state of our world has made this negative looking back even more important, for it’s a goldmine of sorrows, with great temptation to look back and wonder what if. But please don’t do that. The past is already gone and we can’t recapture it. We need to look forward to a new, better and brighter tomorrow. Do remember your mistakes and learn from them, but don’t dwell on them. It’s a perfect setting for further disaster. Remember too that Jesus also advised against looking back. ‘No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 9:62) And that’s gospel people! If you look back while ploughing, your furrows won’t be straight, and you’ll never make a good ploughman, neither be a good candidate for heaven. Oh Friends, it’s especially in hard times like these that we need to concentrate on, and look towards the future, not to the past. We all know where we went wrong, and too much rehashing won’t help us solve our current problems. Let’s learn from our mistakes and move on. That’s the godly way. Much LOVE!…dwelling in the past…is a sure prescription for disaster…
Ah my Friends, on another beautiful morn, with God still on His throne, the ole fella’s here to pass along some friendly advice; that too much looking back is unhealthy. It can cause a myriad of problems, that’s why we’re always advised to look toward the future rather than back to the past. But by the same token, we must review our past every so often, because it’s our history, and we need to understand what went wrong yesterday so we can correct it today. If we do it properly, we can get helpful indicators in terms of where we’ve come from, where we’re at, and where we’re going. As Nat Cole said in his song, ‘Looking Back’; ‘Looking back over my life, I can see where you caused me strife…’ That’s a good indicator to stay away from or be careful of a certain person. Also, ‘I can see signs wise men heed…’ Now that’s something all of us should learn from. In that sense we all need to look back occasionally to judge our progress. The problems develop though, when instead of simply using the past to help us improve, we continue living there. Oh Friends, living without growing or improving is a sad waste of a good life, and if we keep repeating the same mistakes, never learning from them, then we’ll surely end up in a sorry state. Have you ever noticed that those who live in the past are usually sour, bitter and unhappy, because they let their previous mistakes control their lives and subsequently ruin them. As with everything in life my people, we have to develop a fair balance; not too much of any one thing. Bruh Paul put it famously; moderation in all things. Too many of us though insist on rehashing the past and dwelling on the hurts and disappointments we find there; stuff that we can’t do anything about. The Good Book has several instances of where looking back has brought severe misfortune. I guess the most famous is Lot’s wife, when running from the fiery demise of Sodom and Gomorrah. Although explicitly directed not to look back, she did and became a pillar of salt. (Gen.19:15-26) Then there’s also Today’s Bit, where the Lord devised a most ingenious strategy for Joshua and the Israelites to capture the city of Ai. In the evening, they secretly set up troops on two sides of the city, then Joshua and his group went to the front, so that they could be seen. In the morning the men of Ai came out to do battle against Joshua’s group, totally unaware of the other groups lying in ambush. As they approached, Joshua and his men acted as though they were beaten and ran towards the wilderness with the men of Ai in hot pursuit. ‘And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand.’ (Josh 8:18) That acted as a sign for the troops in hiding to rise up, go into the city and set it on fire. ‘And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.’ Yes my Friends, when the men of Ai turned to look back at their burning city, Joshua and his group, who’d been running away, now turned back and began attacking the men of Ai. Then the Israelites that were burning the city came back out and caught the poor souls of Ai in a murderous crossfire, from which none of them escaped, except the king, who was later hanged. Note here Friends, the difference between Saul and Joshua in terms of obedience. The Lord told Joshua to completely destroy them, except in this case they could have the spoil. Joshua complied completely, while Saul did not. Anyway my people, unfortunate things tend to happen to us when we look back on our lives, our past mistakes with regrets and wallow in them instead of learning from them and moving forward. Disaster is the usual result when we dwell on the only if I had done this or that. We rob ourselves of hope, of the joy to be found in the mercy, grace and forgiveness of our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: ‘Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.’ (2 Cor.1:10) Yes Friends, Jesus has delivered us from the peril of death, is still delivering us, and we have a great hope that He will continue to do so. But if we live in the past with a regretful attitude, we lose that hope for a better tomorrow. And the current sad, sorry state of our world has made this negative looking back even more important, for it’s a goldmine of sorrows, with great temptation to look back and wonder what if. But please don’t do that. The past is already gone and we can’t recapture it. We need to look forward to a new, better and brighter tomorrow. Do remember your mistakes and learn from them, but don’t dwell on them. It’s a perfect setting for further disaster. Remember too that Jesus also advised against looking back. ‘No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 9:62) And that’s gospel people! If you look back while ploughing, your furrows won’t be straight, and you’ll never make a good ploughman, neither be a good candidate for heaven. Oh Friends, it’s especially in hard times like these that we need to concentrate on, and look towards the future, not to the past. We all know where we went wrong, and too much rehashing won’t help us solve our current problems. Let’s learn from our mistakes and move on. That’s the godly way. Much LOVE!…dwelling in the past…is a sure prescription for disaster…
SCRIP-BITS 