RR “Looking Back – A Right Way & a Wrong Way” by Jerry Miller

Shavuah Tov {{firstName}},

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have in mind for you,” declares Adonai, “plans for shalom and not calamity—to give you a future and a hope.”

One of the challenges we can have as Yeshua-followers is that of being a people of faith and expectation, especially when we go through difficult times or seasons.  Amid such times, we might hear folks expressing almost a longing for things to just “get back to normal—the way things used to be.”  I was thinking about this recently, and I felt like the Lord spoke something to my heart.  I sensed Him saying that “there is a right way to look back, and a wrong way to look back.”  In view of the High Holy days we recently observed, it was clear to me what He meant by a “right way” to look back.  We know that the feasts and holy days are times of remembrance, as we recall God’s faithfulness and redemptive acts.  It is right for us to look back to stir our faith, as we recall God’s goodness and victorious works in our lives.

But what did He mean by “a wrong way to look back”?  I felt He was pointing to the harm that can come to our faith, when we look back with a longing for what is past.  We can think, “oh, if only we just go back to the ‘good old days.’”  It can be such a temptation for us to think this way, and I would say, it’s a normal temptation.  Why?  Because, as human beings, we don’t care for chaos and uncertainty.  We do not thrive in chaos.  We thrive in peace.  But the reality is, we do not find peace in this world system, and we cannot count on our circumstances to be a source of peace.  We can only find peace in God Himself.  

The reason we can find ourselves longing for things to go back to the way they used to be is very simple.  Life can, at times, be hard.  We can find ourselves going through unpleasant circumstances or even crises, and the temptation is to think that the challenges we have already gotten through are preferred to the challenges that we may currently be facing.  In Scripture, one of the obvious examples of such thinking is seen when the children of Israel grew weary of the challenges of their wilderness wandering after leaving Egypt.  Though they were free from slavery, they looked back with a longing for the life they had in Egypt, despite having been slaves.  What was familiar to them (in Egypt) seemed preferable to the faith challenges of life in the wilderness, having not yet arrived in the promised land.

Now, from God’s perspective, why is this so wrong?  It’s wrong because our life in God is meant to be forward-looking, with faith for what we cannot yet see.  As believers in Messiah, our hope is not in what we might see as “the good old days.”  Our hope is in God’s promises for what is ahead.  Based on the passage quoted above from Jeremiah 29, we can know that God has a future and a hope for us as His people.  I cited that specific passage, because God spoke to Judah about a future and hope, as they were being taken captive to Babylon.  Yes, their present circumstances were dire, but God was emphasizing to them the plans He had for them—for good and not evil, for a “future and a hope.”  Even as the Jewish people were being taken captive, God was planting this seed in their hearts, and faith would be needed for them to take hold of what God was promising.  I’m reminded of the passage in Hebrews 10:38, where we are exhorted that “…my righteous one shall live by emunah (faith); and if he shrinks back, My soul takes no pleasure in him.”

Again, our life in God is meant to be forward looking, with faith for what we do not yet see.  But when we look back with longing for how things used to be, it’s as if we desire our past more than we desire our future and hope.  When that is the case, we will find it difficult to believe for future promises and  future breakthroughs.  So, as believers, we must learn to take hold of God’s peace in the midst of uncertainty, and even chaos.  A key to this faith response is to be learning to see present seasons of discomfort or adversity as times of preparation for days that are ahead.  Of course, preparation for what is ahead could mean greater adversity down the road.  But for us as God’s people today, I believe it most certainly means greater victories and breakthroughs down the road.

Whatever God’s future looks like for us, the most needed preparation is deeper relationship with Him, resulting in a deepening trust for Him.  God wants us looking forward with vision and expectation based on His faithfulness that never changes.  That kind of expectation will never grow in us, apart from a deepening walk with the Lord.

The truth is, satan seeks to use all that is happening around us, to dim our vision of the One who resides in us.  The enemy wants us to feel overwhelmed by all that we don’t understand and can’t figure out.  But God would encourage us to keep our eyes on Him, because it’s in Him that our peace can flourish and our faith can be strengthened, regardless of the circumstances we are dealing with.  It’s in the context of our walk with God, that we grow in our sense of awe for God Himself, and when we are in awe of Him, we won’t be easily awed or overwhelmed by all that’s going on around us.

For every one of us, my prayer is that we grow in our awe of God as we walk with Him through these challenging times in which we live.  We don’t have to live our lives longing for “the good old days.”  May He fill our hearts with faith for a future and a hope for us as we keep our eyes on Him and declare the promises of His Word. (To be continued)

Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sun9-Nov-2025 18th of Cheshvan, 5786
Ge 23:1-16Jdg 4Ps 30Mt 21(Ro 1)