Posts Tagged: Isaiah 43:19
“Addicted to the Past”
“ Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.” (English Standard Version)
Addiction comes in many forms. One of the commonest forms is addiction to the past. In fact, it is so common that it isn’t usually recognized as an addiction. (If addictions are common enough, we baptize them and rename them “normal”—but they’re still addictions.)
It doesn’t much matter whether we are looking back with longing or with regret. Too much looking back is not a safe thing to do. I discovered this one time when I looked in my rearview mirror for too long and rear-ended the car in front of me.
What is wrong with looking back? In a sense, nothing. In fact, looking back at the past to learn from it can be very helpful. And sometimes, we all need to take a stroll down memory lane, just for fun.
But, at any age or stage in our lives, we mainly need to focus on the present and lean into the future. Looking back too often or for too long can cause more than automobile accidents. Such addiction to the past can cause life wrecks as well. Most things in the present moment are either enjoyable or endurable. It is when we begin importing the past (“It has always been like this!”) or the future (“It will always be like this!”) that we get into trouble. Such imports come with high tariffs.
The Bible teaches us to learn from the past, but not to spend too much time there. The Bible is mostly concerned with new things that God wants to do in our lives and in our world. God will and does work with addicts, but God refuses to live us in our addiction. Maybe one of the reasons why so many of us miss what God is doing is that we are looking back too much. It is hard to see things when you’re looking in the wrong direction.
Or, as my wife once said when I was reminiscing too much, “Honey, the past is a nice place to visit, but you can’t live there!”
“Orderly Spontaneity”
Do you feel as if your life is out of control, chaotic, or at least disorganized? Welcome to my world!
Or, on the other hand, do you feel as if your life lacks spontaneity? Again, welcome to my world!
Perhaps you are like me, and you struggle with both order and spontaneity. Take heart! You might be able to make progress in both directions at the same time.
Here is my 12-step affirmation for today:
“Today, by God’s grace and with His strong help, I am choosing to act in a more orderly way. This frees me up to be more spontaneous, since I am not always immersed in chaos.”
I do not think that order and spontaneity are sworn enemies. In fact, I suspect that they are close friends and traveling companions.
Of course, order can degenerate into rigidity and compulsive behavior. Spontaneity can become chaos. An unbalanced virtue is just a vice in disguise.
On the other hand, it doesn’t have to be so. My wife is one of the most organized (and organizing) people I’ve ever known. After forty-five years of marriage, it occurs to me that this is one of the many things that attracted me to her in the first place. It is still one of the many things that attracts me to her.
But my wife is also one of the most spontaneous, playful people I’ve ever known. And that also was and is attractive. Last night, she got me to play a card game called “Slamwich.” We found the game on a shelf in our rental apartment. She read through the directions, and we played it. It was more fun than I thought it would be. (I won! This of course helped make it more fun.)
Did you catch the order in the previous paragraph? She read the rules and then we played. Order (rules) and spontaneity (play).
I, on the other hand, am sometimes neither orderly nor spontaneous. However, I am doing better these days. And I have noticed that when I am doing better on either order or spontaneity, I tend to do better on both.
There is a wonderful old Christian hymn, based on a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, which contains this exquisite prayer:
“Drop Thy still dews of quietness
till all our strivings cease;
take from our lives the strain and stress
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace.”
I believe that God is not simply orderly. I believe that God is the Orderer. And our lives most definitely should confess the beauty of his peace.
However, I also believe that God is wonderfully spontaneous. He is always doing new things (Isaiah 43:19). Perhaps more orderliness would help us all to confess not only the beauty of God’s peace, but also God’s playful spontaneity.
Proverbs 8 tells us that wisdom is God’s oldest creation, there before anything else was there (vss. 22-29). But Proverbs 8 also tells us that the wisdom that God created was “always at God’s side, filled with delight day after day, rejoicing (literally, “playing”) in his presence” (v. 30, my translation). If wisdom was the first thing God created, and if it is continually playful, it is no great interpretive leap to say that the Creator himself is playful.
Wisdom’s play, according to Proverbs 8:31, is also directed to humankind. Wisdom was not only playing in God’s presence. Wisdom was also “rejoicing” (“playing”) in his inhabited world and delighting in humankind” (my translation). The same Hebrew word for “rejoicing” or “playing” is used for what wisdom does in relation to God and in relation to humanity.
So, my prayer for myself and you is this: May you and I have an orderly and spontaneous day, week, and life!
Amen!
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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