To Look Back--or Not--That Is the Question

There are some things in the Bible that seem contradictory. Take Proverbs 26:4. It says, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." Yet the very next verse says, "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit." You can't have it both ways ... or can you? In a word, yes. Those who follow God and walk with Him are endued with the wisdom to know when it is wiser to talk ... and when it is far better to keep silence. The follower of God should know to lean on God for discernment in each particular instance.

Then there is Philippians 3:13, which reads, "Brethren, ... this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." This is easy to understand. After all, God Himself throws our sins into the depths of the sea, to remember them no more (Micah 7:19; Hebrews 8:12). It does us no good to go dredging up or dwelling on that which God has forgiven and done away with. Then ... why do the writers of the New Testament tell us to remember over and over again?

Is this a contradiction? No, it is the glory of God. It is the fulfilling of the commandment found in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely,

whatsoever things are of good report; if there be an virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." There are some things that the children on God should not remember--and there are other things that they should.

In the very first message I heard Dennis deliver, he talked about the mercy and goodness that follow us according to Psalms 23. I can still see him now, looking behind him, first over his left shoulder and then his right, as if looking for a faithful pair of dogs that followed him. Then he turned back to us and said he could testify that God's mercy and goodness had followed him all the days of his life. Those are the things we should not forget. Those are the things we should look behind us to remember: those wonderful great things showing the mercy and goodness God showered down on our lives.

I am writing this on the last day of 2023. In our candlelight service this morning, the pastor had a few members of the congregation share how God had moved on their behalf in this past year. In a word, it was moving to revisit the mercy and goodness of God in these people's lives. It was inspiring and gave us each a beacon of hope that just as God had helped them, He would help us this coming year, for He is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).

Let us ring in the new year remembering the mercy and goodness of God.

"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth" (2 Peter 1:12).