“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.”
Isaiah 43:18 NIV
The Former Things
Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, located at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers, in the central part of the Ontario Peninsula. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 census. Cambridge was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of the former towns of Galt, Preston and Hespeler, along with the settlement of Blair, North Dumfries, as well as east and west Galt. The former Galt covers the largest portion of Cambridge, making up the southern half of the city.
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How often do we lie awake at night, going over the day just past, beating ourselves up for things we said, people we think we have offended, or things we left undone. Or maybe we go further back in time, reliving past pain and disappointments, allowing regrets to flood our thoughts and our hearts. It causes us to toss and turn, losing sleep over things that we ought not to focus on. The prophet deals with this in Isaiah 43:18: “‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” Isaiah is speaking to things that God has already dealt with from the past. Past sin is gone forever, once we have turned it over to Jesus. Stewing over past regrets that have been given over to Him accomplishes nothing. If they are flooding your mind, those thoughts are not from Jesus. False guilt needs to go. Forgiven things need to be forgotten. Ask the Lord to help you forget these things – after all, He has. Do not dwell on the past. Remember, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley