Waking Up With Regrets

Do you ever just get hit with a wave of dread … well, not so much fear as being washed with regrets that penetrate the very depth of one’s being. The older I get the more I realize my unwise decisions over my lifetime. Fortunately, the older I get, my memory slips so some regrets just fade away.

Wrong trails taken on hikes that add time and retracing steps. Lack of honor to my parents, my employers … well, to everyone who is a creation of our God – a creation in His image. Words misspoken. Friendships wasted. Opportunities lost.

But we can’t live drowning in our regrets. Isaiah tells his congregation that they will be taken into slavery, taken away from home, many lives lost, and it is unavoidable because of their actions. But … but this is a BIG BUT … God won’t leave them there.

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 rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43.18-19

The promise of Hope is prefaced with a statement to let go of History. It’s not about a brain wash with no memories intact – it’s about letting go and moving on. You can’t move forward if you’re anchored to the past.

Paul said it a different way …

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.

Phil 3.13-14

So today, I learn from those mistakes … no more wrong turns on that trail, I will honor others, treat friends with respect, watch my words … and more.

And even more then the charge to let go is the promise God is doing a new thing – He is always at work and always has a plan … Even when I blow it. And like Isaiah said a few words later …

… that they might declare My praise!

Letting go of my History … I have Hope in Him at work for my future … and therefor, I will Honor Him with praise in the present!

So … regrets …. hit the road. I have victory in my Lord who is bigger! Way bigger!

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