“DON’T DWELL ON THE PAST”

Joshua 1:1-9

God’s Commission to Joshua

     After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Every religion except Christianity renews the past. Christianity alone makes the best in the past seem poor, compared to the present---and the present seems poor compared with what is yet to be.
When God announced to Joshua the death of His great servant Moses, did He announce plans for a memorial? Did he instruct Joshua to write a book of remembrance of Moses? No! God told Joshua, “Now, therefore arise, go……! (Joshua 1:2). Moses was a mighty man of God; but a living babe is of more use in God’s plan than a dead Moses.
There is no time as good as the present, unless it be the future. Even the splendid cry, “Back to the Bible” is not a call to return to the past; it springs from our need to return to the source of the mighty ocean of God’s grand ideas for you and me.
Beware of people who worship reminiscences of the “good old times.” Those who indulge in sentimentality do no savor the things of God. Every period of time in the Bible was better than the preceding age, and Christians know that the best is yet to be.

“Are you looking back and missing the present”

It is so hard to let go but we must let go in order to go forward and enrich the Kingdom of God like never before.