Looking Ahead

Practice after a big basketball loss was terrible!  Coach pulled out the charts to show us foul shots missed, bad shots taken, and careless turnovers.  There were no denials – the proof was there in black and white.  Looking back at past blunders is rarely fun.  A new calendar-year can bring a new "frame of mind."  We may shrug-off resolutions or goal-setting but as we learn to write 2020, it’s easy to think of a clean slate, a fresh piece of paper, a “new leaf."  No surprise, that’s Satan's cue to turn our thoughts backwards, hindering new thinking patterns. Well, shot charts were often discouraging, even depressing, but the surety of God's grace and mercy is kept in perspective by the memory of yesterday's blunders and bloopers.  Oswald Chambers writes: "But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present." Here’s the uplifting Truth: God is our Security for today, tomorrow, and the gripping past.  Psalm 25:4-5 says, “Show me Your ways, LORD, teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.” Wow! Now, that’s a great way to keep looking ahead!