Whatcha Lookin' At?

I must admit I think it's pretty funny in movies when someone is riding a bike and looking the other direction and they run into a car and flip over. I know it's wrong to laugh, but I can't help it! I'm not laughing at their stupidity. After all, we all look in the wrong direction now and then. But it's funny when you see someone else do it!

Sometimes "looking in the wrong direction" isn't physical, like tripping over a rock or walking into a glass door. Sometimes it's mental or spiritual. Have you ever been so focused on the past that you don't see what's right in front of you?

We have a tendency to think about the "good old days" and wish things were as they used to be.

Or some of us are so consumed by a wrong that was committed in our past that we can't get over it to see what's happening today.

Or we have become so proud of the thing that has been our "baby" all these years, perhaps at work or in ministry or as a volunteer, that we aren't willing to let go of it and see what new thing lies ahead.

Sometimes the horse is dead and we don't even care because we're still sitting on it, kicking hard and trying to spur it into life.

Isaiah 43 says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

I think God's telling the Israelites (and us), "Hey! You're looking the wrong way! Open your eyes!!! If you don't stop looking behind you, you're going to miss out on what I have in store for you today!"

Maybe God has an answer to your prayer, but you are too busy trying to find your own answer that you can't see what He's doing. Maybe He's using someone else to bless you but you aren't paying attention because you're too busy listening to the voices of the past.

What past event, circumstance or hurt have you been focusing on that you need to let go of?

What "new thing" is God doing in you or around you?

Pray for God to open your eyes to what He wants you to see and to have the desires of His heart, not your own. Pray for Him to help you let go of the past and stop beating that dead horse.