Remember to Forget

Forget the former things;  do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43: 18-19

God is always doing a new thing… Do we perceive it?

Or are we too distracted by what has already been to see it?

Things that have happened, the good and the bad are based on experience.

How can we forget experiences we’ve had?

First, I think its important to realize that God tells us to forget, He doesn’t say deny.  He is not asking us to pretend that our life’s experiences didn’t happen.  He desires to take all that has happened and lead us into the new things He has planned for us.

Specifically for the negative things in our past, God reminds us in this verse that all things are possible with Him when He tells us that He is “making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”   God is able to bring life -  even to the most devastating parts of our past and refresh us with hope that only He can bring.

But, how can we really forget the past?

I looked up the word forget in the dictionary… the word unintentional was used twice in its definition.

If forgetting is unintentional then it isn’t something that we can try to do.

We can’t try to do something unintentionally.

On the other hand, the word remember (to forget not) is an intentional word.

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. 

Psalm 103:2

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,

“This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Luke 22:19

God tells us to be intentional about remembering Him and all His benefits.

It think the more we intentionally remember Him – all His promises and all that He has done for us; we will be so focused on God and the new things He is doing that we will unintentionally forget the things of the past.

We remember to forget.  We intentionally remember….

The darkness that once was in our life is now light because of Him.

He has turned all our shame into honor.

What was once sin is now holy.

The one who was once separated from God is now near to Him.

Be intentional today about remembering Him and all His has done for you…

And see all the new things springing forth in your life that He has planned.