You shall not go out with haste…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
One of the best ways to leave this year behind is to look toward the coming year with absolute dependence and confidence in the supernatural provision of God.
In Oswald Chambers’ fine devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, Chambers succinctly tells us how we should look forward with faithful expectancy because of God’s enduring faithfulness.
Step Into The New Year With Faithful Expectancy
Here is what he writes…
God Uses Our Past Mistakes For Good
Security from Yesterday. “…God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
God Promises To Go Before Us
Security for Tomorrow. “…The Lord will go before you…” This is a gracious revelation – that God will send His forces to where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all claims against our conscience.
God Wants Us To Let The Past Rest
Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste…” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
As we learn to reframe our past mistakes and failings through the lens of God’s redemptive power, everything changes. Yes, we have failed. Yes, we have made some poor decisions. Yes, we may feel some keen regret over lost opportunities. However, God is our great Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. He will help us to learn from our failings so that we choose more wisely in the future. He will walk beside us to provide the daily strength and grace we require. God is in our past. God is in our present. God will be in our future. There is nowhere we can flee from his blessed presence.
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