Recently our Old Testament reading for worship was from the Book of Isaiah, chapter 43. The most moving part of that passage is Isaiah's profound belief that the disappointment and pain of enslavement and exile would not last forever. He believed that even though the present circumstances were discouraging, the future was bright and filled with hope.

Some might say Isaiah was an optimist, a person who by nature saw the good in things. Perhaps he was but that isn't the reason for his hope for the future. No, he believed Israel's long dark night was about to end because he could see the activity of God in the way things were shaping up. He wasn't preoccupied with recalling the limitations of being in exile nor was he persuaded to worship the status quo. For Isaiah God had greater purposes for Israel than enslavement, and a people who saw themselves through the eyes of their oppressors could not embrace the greater future to which God was calling them. He stated his hope this way: "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old." (Isaiah 43: 18) Focusing on limitations is like wearing a blindfold; you cannot see what is just beyond your nose. That is not a statement from an optimist. No, that is an affirmation of a person who knows the love of God.

One of life's hardest challenges is to see ourselves as more than our background and more than our present circumstances. I think I can honestly say that every discouraged person I have ever met believed either the past or the present was a life sentence that doomed him or her to a seriously flawed future. The future had less purpose because the past or the present was too heavy to be thrown off, so they were limited by either what was or what now is.

Isaiah clearly regards such talk as foolish, lacking in a faith that understands the loving, creative purposes of God. How can we, as God's creation, so readily accept our circumstances as having the power to defeat God? Instead Isaiah counsels the people to not look at either the distant past nor the recent past but to see themselves in the care of a loving God who is even now calling them to embrace a hopeful future. Instead of looking at the past, look to the future-there you will see the activity of God because: "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:19)

For each of us: Let us live our lives looking forward. Age, status, sin (past or present) is not powerful enough to stop God's new future. God's love is stronger than any of earth's shackles. Because of that love we have a future. God is calling you and me…do you not hear the call?

Grace and Peace,



David