Day 28 – Chapter 29

“And Job again took up his discourse and said, ‘Oh that I were as in months gone by, as in the days when God watched over me; when His lamp shone over my head, and by His light I walked through darkness; as I was in the prime of my days, when the friendship of God was over my tent; when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me; when my steps were bathed in butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!’” (29:1-6)

It is not uncommon to rehash and rehearse the past, especially when the present is not so glorious and the future looks rather bleak. That is precisely what Job does in this 29^th chapter. His past was glorious. He was content with his life. He was revered and respected. He was honored as an elder among his people. His family surrounded him. He was known to be an advocate for the poor and a deliverer for the oppressed. He worked to meet the need of the widow and the orphan. When he spoke people listened, in fact, they sought out his counsel. Clearly, in his own estimation he was the man God said he was in the first two chapters. But now all of that has changed and he is left with only memories and his hope seems to be fading.

Job is not alone. As I pointed out before, we are Job. We can more than empathize with him; we understand. When we are going through rough patches and hope for the future appears to be dim, we, too, look to the past and reminisce about how things were so much better than they are now. It is perhaps one of the most natural things to do, except it is a very dangerous trap. Rehashing the past may only be helpful in so far as we analyze it to learn from it. But when we begin the process of replaying all the good times as compared to the present we run the risk of getting stuck, unable to move on. The danger in getting stuck in the past is that we lose hope for the future wondering how it could possibly be better any than what we have had.

God has done some wonderful things for us in the past. We should celebrate them, but remember that He is the One who also makes all things new (Isaiah 43:19; Revelation 21:5). He is the One who promised through the prophet that the glory of the latter house would be greater than the former (Haggai 2:9). Our God is not bound by whatever He did in the past. With Him every round goes higher. All He wants from us is our trust, obedience and confidence that He will finish in us what He started (Philippians 1:6). So be encouraged today, don’t allow yourself to get stuck in the successes and glory of the past. Look to God who holds your future in His hand, for your best days and blest days are yet in front of you.

Thank You, Great God for all the marvelous things You have done for us. You have brought over a road filled with successes and failures. You have promised good to us and shown Yourself ever faithful. Keep us this day from becoming fixated on our past. Open our eyes to the wonder and glory of the future yet to be revealed. Allow us to know and believe that You are indeed behind the scenes working for our good. We offer this prayer to You in the name of Your Son, Jesus our Lord. Amen.