A lot of us like nostalgia because we love to be reminded of the good old days. The past is more comfortable to us than the future.The past doesn’t surprise us, so we would rather live with memories of the past than the uncertainty of the future.
Yet we read in Isaiah 43:18-19a (NIV):
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”
Could it be that God actually wants His people to forget His mighty acts? I don’t think so. There are plenty of other passages in which God calls Israel to remember the powerful ways He worked in the past. But now God wants to do a “new thing.” So He urges His people, “Don’t be a prisoner of a positive past. Don’t dwell on the Exodus out of Egypt. There is even more to come!
Like Israel, perhaps we need to be reminded not to limit God by what He has done in the past. Let us not have a faith that only looks backward on what God has done. Let us have a faith that expects to be amazed by what God will do in the future.
At this time IDES is in a leadership transition. David Stine is the new Executive Director of IDES and I am retiring at the end of August. I believe that God has more to accomplish through the IDES ministry.
The past 19 years have been a great ride, but the best is yet to come!
- Rick Jett, Executive Director Emeritus