Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. Proverbs 4:25-27
God Is Infinite. That is, He sees all time all at once. He has no beginning or end. This is truly migraine inducing to get your head around: Our God sees it all, yet is willing to deal with us “time-constrained” individuals in time and according to it, all to accomplish His plans and purpose,
Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. Isaiah 46:9-10
God Points Us Forward. Yet even with His 360 degree view of time, God continually points his people in one direction through His word. When the Israelites, hemmed in by the Red Sea, facing an advancing Egyptian army and fearing death, cried out to the Lord; God responded with explicit clarity,
The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.” Exodus 14:15.
When the father admonishing his son to keep his eyes fixed on wisdom, he does not direct him to review, but rather to keep looking ahead.
Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. Proverbs 4:25-27
And Paul, even while admitting his own failures does not focus on them but continues to look ahead.
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Look Ahead. I find it interesting that many, who follow the God whom continually pushes us forward, spend so much time regretting the past. Be it lamenting what “could have been,” regretting decisions that we have made or wallowing in guilt for past failures, none of it seems consistent with the biblical exhortation to “look ahead.” Even Jesus’ instruction to those first disciples with amazingly clear in its direction, “Follow me.”
Sadly, it is common to hear people speak of being stuck in a “dead end job” or feel like their life “is going nowhere.” The truth of it is; that could very well be the case. Many people end up doing nothing and going nowhere because they’re fixed on the past and allow it to paralyze their future. The experience of the Israelites on the shore of the Red Sea is profoundly instructive, what they thought was a dead end was nothing of the sort in God’s mighty plan.
What has become increasingly compelling to me is that the God who sees all time equally directs my gaze to the future. How foolish are we not to heed this exhortation? Especially when it comes from one who declares the beginning from the end! He knows your past and your future, but finds the latter the one to focus upon. Perhaps today is the day you will align your focus with His. Determine to leave the past and it’s regrets where they lay and choose to honor God with this day that He has given you.
For many of us, it is time to take Him at His word, “Go forward.” I pray you have the strength to do just that.
