Renewal

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done (Psalm 105 New Living Translation).

The other day I was on my way home and as I drove along with my brain parked in neutral (as it often is) I found myself missing my turn. I glanced at the houses passing by (well, actually it was I that was passing them by, but you catch my drift well enough, I trust) and they weren’t looking familiar to me at all.

It was then that I realized I had missed my turn and was driving down a road less traveled.

Not to worry; I was in my neighborhood, so a couple of blocks later I was able to make the turn that would get me home.

That’s the way of life. When we make a mistake, we may not know it right away, but eventually the error will make itself known and we’ll have an opportunity to fix it or make adjustments necessary to correct the error.

There are very few fatal errors in life. There are enough, of course, that one mostly wants to pay attention; but generally speaking, the worst consequence of not paying attention is simply an inconvenience or an accident that could have been avoided.

When that happens, most of us have a chance to start over, or to start fresh. God is good that way. In fact, if I were to reveal what I consider to be the secret to a happy life, it would be my faith in a God of new beginnings.

I believe that yesterday is over, done with, and finished. No matter what happened, it is gone. If it was good, we can embrace it as a fond memory. If it was bad, we can cherish it as an experience out of which we might make a wiser decision today.

We don’t have to be held captive by our past. We can hold tight to those experiences that helped build character, and we can consign to the deep those experiences and events that made life a living hell.

The Bible tells us clearly that God does not enslave creation, but releases it.

When God saw the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt, when God heard their cries for relief, God sent them a deliverer to secure their release. When the slaves arrived at the shores of the sea with Pharaoh’s army closing in on them, God cleared a path to freedom – making “possible” a way of escape through the “impassable”.

We cannot ignore the past, but we can embrace it and learn from it. In review, we can often see the hand of God at work in our lives, even when (surrounded by alligators) we may feel all alone at the time. It is hindsight that provides us the 20/20 insight we need to see where God has been in our times of trial and tribulation.

The psalmist invites us to give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. That requires us to take a look back and to see.

Knowing the harm we’ve done to our friends and families (and perhaps to ourselves) by many of the things we’ve done or failed to do, we can choose to follow a new path each day.

We don’t need to remain captive to our mistakes, to our sins, or to our foul deeds. We may need to pay the consequences for the things we’ve done, but we don’t need to be held captive by them.

We’re called to face them honestly and courageously, to make amends as best we can, and then to move onward, striving not to repeat those things we ought not to have done.

And for the things we’ve endured at the hand of others – what of them?

We forgive them. We forgive them extravagantly. We forgive them completely, because it is our willingness to forgive that releases us from bondage and that keeps us from being their slaves. They may need to pay the consequences for their deeds, but that is not your worry; that is God’s worry.

So, it’s always a new day in this, our world. Tell the world what God has done; cross the impassable, and be thankful.