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Dr. George A. Purnell
March 21, 2010
“Looking Ahead”
Isaiah 43:16-25
As was the case a couple of weeks ago, we are in Second Isaiah today, which was written during the period of the Babylonian exile. Jerusalem had been conquered in 587 BCE. The Temple that Solomon had built had been destroyed, and many leading citizens of Jerusalem had been deported to Babylon.
In this passage written to Jews living as captives in exile, Isaiah reflects on stories of the Exodus, the paradigmatic act of divine deliverance for the Jews.
Throughout the Hebrew Bible the mighty acts of God during the Exodus from Egypt are told and retold. God orchestrated the escape and delivered the people from slavery in Egypt. God led them on their 40 year trek across the desert. God provided them daily with manna and quail and water. God saved them time and again, until Joshua finally led the people into the land God had promised their ancestors.
Today Isaiah remembers the initial event of deliverance, the parting of the waters of the Red Sea in verse 16, and the destruction of the pursuing Egyptian army in verse 17:
“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick.”
But just after recalling this defining moment, we find Isaiah telling the people to let go of that memory of the Lord allowing their ancestors to escape the Pharaoh’s armies:“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.”
Why forget this glorious past? When the present finds the people captive in a foreign land, why not at least let them revel in memories of happier days?
Because, Isaiah is saying, by holding onto this vision of the past so tightly, the people are unable to see what God will do in their future. In fact, the author makes the bold claim that even the Exodus will pale in comparison to what God is about to do:
“I am about to do 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. Wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people…”
You think the parting of the Red Sea was something? Wait until you see rivers in the desert. Even the wild animals will honor God in this vision of a restored wilderness.
The prophet here is turning the minds of the people from memory to hope. Remember, your ancestors arrived in the Promise Land only after wandering for an entire generation in the wilderness. You will receive deliverance from exile, in God’s time, just as they did then; because the work of deliverance is the thing God is always doing.
It is unsettling to be told to forget the past. Because the past is known, we often enshrine, conveniently blocking out its bad parts. (The Israelites in the Exodus grumbled about Moses’ leadership and pined for the good old days in Egypt, where they had food and shelter, forgetting their oppression.) And because the future is a blank canvass, we can fail to see beyond our fear of the unknown to the possibilities yet to be revealed.
It can be hard to let go of the past for reasons other than having enshrined or idealized it.
The lesson today not only has God say “do not remember the former things,” it also has God say “I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
We hold onto our failures of the past, and in so doing lock ourselves up in them. Meanwhile, the present is slipping by and the future feels foreclosed because of yesterday’s failures. But God will not live that way. Even though we have made God tired because of our continuing transgressions, God leaves this all behind. God says that God blots out our transgressions “for my own sake.” God refuses to be weighed down with our past. “I will not remember your sins” is the promise God makes today.
God wants to be free to create the future unburdened and unbiased by our past. The key to unlocking the past and moving beyond it into the future that God is creating is found in forgiveness.
We cannot “un ring” a bell. We cannot relive a single moment in time that has passed. In fact, even if we could relive these moments, most of us would repeat the same mistakes. Only when we change ourselves will our futures change. And this change is not something we can sustain alone. We need God’s help in discerning the direction for our lives.
Sometimes we have to forgive God before we can move ahead with our lives. It isn’t enough to forgive the failings of our past; we must forgive God’s failings as we have perceived them.
It can be hard to let go of the past that saw us prosper. We spent years studying to enter our chosen field. We worked hard once we began our career. We were effective at our work and loyal to our employer. And at 54, we were told the organization had no place for us, and we were offered a buy out.
A longtime friend of mine was deep in depression when such a thing happened to him in mid-life. He had become addicted to his lifestyle, and he realized that his ability to find employment at an income level commensurate to the one he had lost was unlikely.
After a period of being angry and embarrassed…and after counseling, prayer, and soul searching…he began a new way of living. He discovered dimensions of his character utterly unrelated to what he did, where he belonged, or what he owned.
When John lost his job and his place in societal circles, he felt that his friends and family were disappointed in him, and that others saw him to be less significant as a person…
Over time, he found a new sense of self and a new appreciation for people. He found that he no longer wanted to return to life as it used to be, when things were more comfortable and more predictable.
His experiences brought him a new empathy with people who were struggling – emotionally, financially, and spiritually – and his former detachment from people was replaced with a love and respect for others, regardless of their circumstance.
Then there are those who did not want to let go of a past where they were healthy. One day all was well in their world, and then they heard a dreaded diagnosis. And suddenly everything was different.
Nothing has inspired me more during my years in ministry than people with many years ahead of them in a normal life cycle who have been diagnosed with a life shortening disease and who made a decision to live in new ways, in ways that reached beyond themselves to help others deal with difficult times.
Recently I finished reading a book by Marvella Bayh, the late wife of former US Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana and mother of current US Senator Evan Bayh. The book tells how this stunningly attractive young woman was diagnosed with breast cancer, had a mastectomy at age 37, and became a fierce opponent of cancer on the national stage.
Mrs. Bayh put a public face on the fight against breast cancer. Before her courageous public journey – which took her around the nation to give some 200 speeches for the American Cancer Society – celebrity women who had had mastectomies kept this private. That silence was understandable in many ways, because the loss of a breast affected the way they saw themselves as women, and the way they feared the public would see them in the future. But Marvella Bayh used her celebrity status to bring attention to breast cancer in particular, and to women’s health in general. She also became a friend to and inspiration for countless women around the nation.
Marvella Bayh died at age 46 in 1979. Before her cancer, Marvella was best known as Senator Birch Bayh’s wife, because he was an attractive and prominent political figure whom many people believed would one day be a leading contender for the presidency of the United States. Following her diagnosis and surgery in 1971, Marvella became better known than even her husband in many circles. She influenced getting private and public funding for research and treatment of diseases affecting women. (Men had long benefited from attention aimed at early detection of their medical conditions, along with funding and research for treatment of male diseases. Women’s health had nowhere near the level of interest and funding until pioneering women like Marvella Bayh stepped forward.)
I did not know Mrs. Bayh, but I have known people whose lives were ending, and who chose to live the days ahead in exciting, joyous, and new ways. They could have spent their remaining days locked in the memories of yesterday, when they were healthy. They could have replayed the highlight films of life and wondered why they had to end up where they were today. They could have settled with being mad at people who were healthy, overcome with sadness that much of what they wanted to see and do would never be seen or done, and filled with fear.
No doubt the people I spent time with in the last year or years of life spent some time in all those places. I am certain that they were mad at times, sad at times, afraid at times, and depressed at times, because most people don’t want to die…
But they chose not to settle in those places. They chose not to live with lowered expectations. They chose to believe that in God’s new desert there are rivers, and that out of death will spring forth new life.
Who thinks like that? People we admire and want to follow. People we can all become, because God is always doing a new thing in our lives. Amen.
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