DON’T GO BACK TO YOUR PAINFUL PAST

By John Stallings

And Jesus said unto them, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62

On 9/11/01, the destruction of the World Trade Center & damage to the Pentagon in Washington D.C left us stunned, speechless & humbled. Some brave souls went beyond the call of duty & heroically tried to save the buildings & paid with their lives. Countless stories have been told of the heroic deeds that happened that day.

A little known story is told of a policeman who, situated just outside the entrance of the buildings shouted to the people who streamed out, “Don’t look up, don’t look back, run for your lives.” When you look at many of the pictures taken that day you’ll see thousands of people heeding that wise council.

Looking back always seems to be a temptation for us. I have often wondered how it would feel for a missionary to pack their possessions into a few drums, seal them up, say goodbye to family & friends, step on a ship heading to a remote third world country where they’d be facing unknown dangers, not for a few weeks but for many years, &---- not look back.

Do you remember the song by the Beatles called “Yesterday?”

It went;

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as if they’re here to stay,
Oh I believe in yesterday.”

Yesterday can look so shiny & beautiful. Someone has said—“Time puts a halo on the past.” It seems we forget the negatives & remember only the positives. I’ve known people who seem to live with their eyes on their rear-view mirrors. They glorify the “good old days” but in all honesty, “the good old days” almost killed me. I’m glad for the present moment in which I live.

The Old Testament contains the story of a group of people who were oppressed, mistreated & demoralized. At one time they were doing great but things changed & they found themselves enslaved to a foreign government. Their days were filled with hard labor & unrealistic expectations. Circumstance that they didn’t want caused them to have to live through some pretty hard & dark chapters. In their despair they cried out to God.

God heard their cry & sent a deliverer. His name was Moses. You will remember that at a very young age Moses himself was a “basket case.” Well, through a long sequence of events I won’t belabor in this piece, most of them downright miraculous, this group of slaves got out of Egypt & headed for a new land filled with awesome opportunity. But something happened in the process. Their road to success took an unexpected turn.

Their captors who had halfheartedly let them go changed their mind & came after them.

“And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, & behold the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: & the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.” Exod. 14:10

HAVE YOU EVER FELT YOUR “LUCK” HAD RUN OUT?

Well that’s how these people felt. The promise of a better life had shimmered before their very eyes but now it seemed it was being snatched away. They were under extreme pressure as they saw the Egyptian army headed for them to take them back into captivity. Bummer! All they could do in their terror was cry out to God.

It reminds me of a line from a movie I once saw. A man thought he had shaken off the mafia but they wouldn’t let him go so he lamented-- “Just when I thought I was out, they reached out & pulled me back in.” The Israelites felt that just when freedom was in their grasp, circumstances conspired to “pull them back” into the bondage of the past.

But now another twist enters the story. Instead of looking to God for their deliverance, they chose to blame Moses for the mess. They thought; “if Moses hadn’t delivered them, they wouldn’t be on the verge of death.”

“And they said, because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?” Exod.14:11

HOW OFTEN DO WE DO THE SAME?

But this sort of thing always backfires. What happens when we shift the blame is that bitterness will take over. When we allow regret & bitterness to control our minds we will never see the Promised Land God has for us. Bitterness springs form deep-rooted anger & when anger & bitterness climb into the saddle, everyone who comes near us gets poisoned by it.

Heb.12:15 says, -- “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, & thereby many be defiled.”

When the Israelites saw the chapter they were trying to close coming back on them, they started blaming Moses for their predicament.

ISRAEL WAS READY TO GO BACK TO THEIR PAINFUL PAST

They said it would have been better if Moses had simply left them alone, in bondage to the Egyptians than to die in the desert. They said they’d rather go back to an evil taskmaster than to try to write a new chapter in their lives. Some people are so controlled by sin that they’d rather live an enslaved life than risk a different road that would set them free.

Too many people chose to live in the past because the future scares them. They don’t know what to expect. The Israelites problem was that they didn’t have a real vision for a new life. They didn’t have a dream. They knew where they came from but they didn’t know where they were going.

MOSES ENCOURAGED THE PEOPLE TO GO FORWARD

Exod. 14:13-14 says, -- “And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, stand still & see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today: for the Egyptians which ye have seen today ye shall see the again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Vr.15—And the Lord said unto Moses, wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward.”

What do the Israelites see as they look ahead? Nothing but the Red Sea. God is seemingly telling them to walk into a watery grave. God’s alternative is frightening but it’s the only hope they have. God delivered His people that day & they learned a great lesson; true deliverance will never be achieved by the arm of flesh but by the arm of God’s spirit.

In Genesis 12, tells about Abraham’s nephew who accompanies Abraham to Canaan. Lot & Abraham keep their herds on different plots of land. They remain close & when Lot is captured, Abraham rescues him. Then Lot moves to Sodom. Angels visit him & tell him to leave the wicked city. God is intent on destroying the wicked city but for Abraham’s sake He spares Lot & his family. Lot isn’t all that happy to leave so the angels took them by the hand & led them out of the city. Lot was told to “Flee for your life, don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed.”

You will remember that Lot’s wife looked back & she became a pillar of salt.

LOT’S WIFE ISN’T NAMED. ---THOUGH WE THINK OF HER AS THE WOMAN WHO WAS TURNED TO SALT, THE MOST DRAMATIC CONSEQUENCE WAS SHE WAS FROZEN IN PLACE.

Looking back to our painful past has the same effect on us. We are frozen in place & can’t go forward & be effectual in our present & future. One of the most important things we can learn is that rehashing the past is a pernicious waste of time. If a man is put in jail, its O.K to spend a little time rehashing what he did & why he did it. But a time limit must be placed on the rehashing. He must start to put the past behind him & start asking himself what it will take to live in the moment & do what is necessary to get his freedom. That can’t be accomplished by rehashing his past mistakes.

Looking back with extreme regret & incessant guilt & obsessive chanting of all we’ve done wrong can only stand in the way of our ever doing anything right. I remember an athlete named Donnie Moore who was an outstanding pitcher for the California Angels in the 1980’s. He threw one bad pitch that cost his team the American league pennant in 1986. Some time later, unable to forget that one pitch he took his own life. Regret can take a heavy toll if we’re not able to get past it.

Joseph is one of the best examples in the Bible of a man with a painful past who was able to “get over it” & do great exploits with his life. His own brothers almost killed him out of rotten jealousy & finally sold him into slavery. He was taken to Egypt where while working in Potipher’s house he had a bogus rape charge leveled at him by Potipher’s wife & went to jail for thirteen years.

God miraculously brought Joseph through & made him the second most powerful man in all Egypt. Listen to these words in Genesis 41:50-52;

“And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God said He hath made me to forget all my toil & all my father’s house. And the name of the second called he Ephriam: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Joseph was able to come through these horrendous years victoriously because he kept his eyes focused on God’s purpose for his life. Like Joseph, we should stay focused on the purpose of God behind all our difficult circumstances. We should also seek at all times to stay close to God & allow Him to help us to be reconciled to all those who have done harm to us.

This is the only way to leave our painful past behind.

John