Looking Forward

God is on the move. People won’t argue that we love and serve a God who never changes, is always moving and ever present. We as a people cry out and hunger for more of what He is doing, yet how easily we can become content in what we have known. We want to see what He is doing and be part of it, but we want it to look and feel familiar to us. There is a paradox in our thinking that says we want that new, as long as it fits into the box we have designated. We have stopped looking forward to the next move, and have become complacent in looking backwards. 

Looking backwards can be a good thing. We learn from the past, and grow from the past. However, dwelling on the past, and longing for it are not good and can keep us from experiencing the fullness of what God has. Jesus said in Luke 9:62 “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” We know the story of Lot’s wife. She dwelt on what was and looked back, when God told her not to. The question then is, how do we keep ourselves from dwelling and continue looking forward to what God is doing?  

3 things to focus on the continue looking forward

God is doing a new thing. 

In Is 43:18 it says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing”. We can remind ourselves that our God is a God who does new things. We strive to be new wineskins for the new wine that comes, and so we can rest assured He will always bring the new wine. 

We are new in Christ 

Christ came to die for us and make us new. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come - 2 Cor 5:17. If Christ came to make us new, then we can remind ourselves of that and focus on the new coming, and not the old body we were before the cross. 

God has a plan for your life

One of the biggest lies of the enemy is that we don’t have a purpose. If he can keep us distracted in the past and not living our purpose then he will. Remind ourselves that we have a purpose. Jer 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” We can rest knowing that our lives have a plan and God has given us what we need. Ps 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”.

If we can stop and remember that God has a plan for us, that He is doing a new thing and remember that we are a new creation in Jesus, we will be able to keep our eyes on the new thing. It won’t be easy all the time to let go of how we think it should go, but if we can let go and say “God, I want what you want” then we will be able to keep looking forward and our eyes on the next move of God.