Daily Devotions
December 28th, 2015 by Pastor SolleyJer 47:1-3 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith the Lord; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;
KJV
This is the time of year that many people look back and analyze the type of year 2015 has been and I don’t think that a bad thing to do. We look back and see where we as Christians could have been more faithful in one area or another, what we could have done in service for the Lord that we let slip past, how we could have better served the Lord. In many ways for me individually 2015 was a better year than 2014 was, but still much, much more could have been done on my part. But as we look back it should be with an eye on 2016, an eye to be more faithful to the Lord, to serve Him in ways that we should, to grow in the Lord and walk closer to Him. I choose this Scripture reading because it is one of two places the phrase “Look back” is found in the Bible. Here is the other. (Nah 2:8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.) In both places it is not a positive thing to look back. God would have us looking forward, not looking back on our past failures or even our past success, God wants us looking ahead. So as it is natural to look back at the end of a year we need to remember that God wants us looking forward and moving forward for Him in 2016. Don’t rest on the success of 2015 or lament the failures, just move on for the Lord in 2016.