FORWARDS OR BACKWARDS?

Which way are you headed this year -- forwards or backwards? Spiritually, that is.

I think of the Children of Israel when they fled Egypt and faced the Red Sea. It must have seemed an impossibility to think of moving forward. But with their enemy behind them, they really had no choice! Nothing is impossible with our God!

In our daily spiritual walk, it's so easy to look at the difficulties that confront us, and to see how bad the circumstances are that face us. Like the Children of Israel, we're hesitant to move forward. We forget that it's the enemy that causes us to doubt and fear and question the future. As we face this New Year, we need to put our doubts and fears behind us. Instead, look ahead and see only the possibilities that exist with the Lord. God is saying in so many words, "Look to Me. Let Me take care of the enemy."

In light of the illustration of the Children of Israel, I may be getting the metaphors of "ahead" and "behind" mixed up; but remember what the Apostle Paul says in the well-known Scripture found in Philippians 3:13, 14, (T)his one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (And the Israelites DID forget the enemy behind them when the Red Sea opened up and they marched forward on dry ground -- losing their enemy in the process!)

So let's put our troubles, our failures, and our past defeats behind us and follow Paul's example of looking forward to the great things God has in store for us in this New Year!

Preacher's Kid