Let go of the past, Embrace Today and Receive the Future

Why You Should Let Go

Everyday history is being made all over the world. What you are witnessing today, tomorrow will be history and it may be something good to remember or a loathsome past that you would want deleted from your history book of life.

The past has a way of holding people down, be its past glories or failures, we tend to be tied to the past with some invisible cords and at times the past seems to wield a commanding sword that could stop us from attaining our desired and deserved future.

I recently had a chat with an old man whose greatest life achievement as I learnt from my conversation with him is that he was the first person in his village to own a Vinyl Record Player. As he opened up to me on how great it was in those days to own such a grandeur device, suddenly you could see his face light up as he expressed how the whole village revered him, his social status was suddenly elevated and he could sit with the village elders and the learned during village parties, this was due to the fact that his RP machine was always hired to entertain people on various ceremonies.


Due to the many invitations that he got, women flocked him and lacking self control because of alcohol intake, he ended up being a father of many children whom he couldn't cater. As the party invitations  increased he got addicted to alcohol and abandoned work and his family. Most of his children couldn't go to school and have been languishing in poverty as a result.

As he was sharing this with me, I could sense remorse and regret in his voice, he advised me never to grasp on to today's glories forgetting that tomorrow they will be but memories, but instead to always aim higher in life, that spoke volumes to me. The man seemed to have lived in his past "glory" way too long till he forgot about a future that has caught up with him.

Lot, Abraham's nephew is one example out of many who let their past control their present and consequently ruined their destinies. Lot had acquired a lot of wealth while he was still together with his uncle Abraham, so much to the extent that they could no longer stay together because the pasture seemed to have suddenly reduced. He chose Sodom and Gomorrah's well watered plains and they parted ways but later the bible reveals that what seemed to be the best place for Lot and his family, was actually hell on earth.

Lot lost all material wealth he had gathered plus his wife, it must have been very devastating to him and rather than forge forth and ask God for help, he let his loss torment him living in fear and being uncertain of the future (Gen 19:29 Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. 30 Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.) Lot lived the rest of his life hidden from other people, he lived in caves. He simply couldn't let go of his past fears and as a result he lived a depressed life.

Prophet Amos ministered in the Northern Kingdom of Israel but was from the southern Kingdom of Judah. He ministered in a time when all morals had vanished in Israel, corruption was rampant, murder was a norm, all these being fueled by syncretism and idol worship. People were associating themselves with places of worship where their forefathers worshiped but not worshiping the God of their forefathers.

In chapter 5 of the book of Amos, God is warning the Northern Kingdom about an imminent siege. In verse 5 of the same chapter, God lays bare their hold of past glories. (Amos 5:5 do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.)

God here mentions three places that were significant to their patriarchs (Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba) and also significant to them as places of worship.

Bethel
It was here that Jacob had a dream in which he saw angels descending in a stairway from heaven and as a result he termed the place holy and promised God to worship Him there again if God brought him back safely. It was later developed to a place of worship, Bethel means house of God, yet through Amos, God points out that Bethel would be destroyed.

Gilgal
This was where the children of Israel camped in preparation to invade the promised land, most of their operations were done here. It was here that Joshua was commanded to circumcise the the males in preparation to enter the promised land. Gilgal was very significant but later was corrupted and it became a distasteful place before God.

Beersheba
Beersheba was first founded by Abraham through his dealings with Abimelech (Gen 21:22-34) but later Isaac builds an alter for the Lord here and it received its spiritual significance henceforth. It was after he left Beersheba that Jacob saw Angels descending at Bethel. Beersheba was very significant to Israel's worship.

All these places evoked nostalgia of a worship that currently had lost meaning. God was warning the people not to seek Him in the past, because He is not in the past but rather He is the ever present God "Seek me and live;". He is ready to do a new thing, He makes all things new. His name is I AM, the ever present God.

Are you holding your past or is your past holding you? Do you know that God has big plans for your future? God is asking you and me to let go of the past, no matter how bitter or glorious it was and to look forward to a new thing that He will do. If He did it yesterday, He is able to do exceedingly above even today. He is the God who owns tomorrow. May you find Him today.