My friend recently told me he felt discouraged because of several personnel changes at his workplace. Many of the people with whom he had worked for years had retired or taken jobs elsewhere, and he was struggling with the transition. With a sigh, he said to me, “Steve, I remember the way it used to be. Why can’t it still be that way?”
His melancholy stemmed from his preoccupation with looking back and longing for “the good old days.” That look back was robbing him of a productive and fulfilling present and a hopeful future. Perhaps you can identify with him, finding yourself living in the past and wishing things could be the way they once were—at work, in your family, with your friends, at church, or in another area of life.
By God’s sovereignty, I had recently heard a message by retired Pastor Chuck Swindoll, who said, “Our dreams must be bigger than our memories.” That statement resonated with me—probably because the older I become, the greater the temptation I face to camp out in the old days too. Sharing Swindoll’s quote with my friend helped him recognize that his focus on the past was preventing him from enjoying the present and looking forward to tomorrow.
The Price of Looking Back
Looking back can create real problems in many areas of life. In track and field, each time runners turn their heads to look back, they slow down, jeopardizing a strong finish. In football, a quarterback who remains mentally preoccupied with a previous interception can carry that mistake into his next drive and end up ruining the rest of the game. In baseball, a pitcher who dwells on a bad pitch or a hitter on a swing and miss can get stuck in a slump. Instead of fixating on the past, the player must concentrate on the next throw or swing. In business, companies that glory in their past achievements without looking forward to innovation invite irrelevance. Just ask Blackberry and Kodak.
Scripture is rife with examples of the dangers of living in the past, longing for the old days, and focusing on memories more than dreams. In Genesis 19, Lot and his family were commanded to flee Sodom: “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain” (v. 17). But Lot’s wife couldn’t resist glancing back, maybe for a quick reminder of her life in Sodom. Her look back cost her her life, as “she became a pillar of salt” (v. 26).
The newly freed Israelites yearned for their days in slavery in Egypt (Num. 14:3) when faced with the challenge of taking the land of promise: “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron” (vv. 1–2). As a result, God prohibited these ungrateful Israelites from entering the Promised Land. All those complainers 20 years of age and older eventually died in the wilderness.
In the book of Ruth, tragedy struck when Naomi’s husband and two sons died, widowing her and her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi told both of them to turn back (1:11). She persuaded Orpah to turn back to Moab, leaving God’s Chosen People and returning to a culture of idol worship.
The apostle Paul’s trusted friend Demas left him in his time of need. Paul’s words were heart-wrenching: “For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10). Demas abandoned Paul because, in his mind, the comfort of Thessalonica outranked Paul and their shared ministry.
Jesus warned against turning back as He revealed the cost of discipleship: “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk. 9:62). Looking back while plowing will create crooked lines. Followers of Jesus must focus on the present and look forward. As the Lord said, “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?” (Isa. 43:18–19).
The Reward for Looking Forward
Not everyone in the Scriptures was guilty of looking back. Some people, rather than turning back, gazed forward—and found great joy.
Ruth, like her sister-in-law, Orpah, faced an uncertain future after her husband’s death. But she refused to return to her homeland of Moab. Instead, she clung to Naomi (Ruth 1:14), saying, “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (v. 16). Because of her decision, she was rewarded with inclusion in the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah through her great-grandson, King David.
Numbers 14 records that only two of the 12 Israelite spies gave a positive report about the Promised Land. Unlike the other 10, Joshua and Caleb were willing to go forward in faith and take the land, saying, “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them” (vv. 7–9).
Forty-five years later, Caleb could still claim faithfulness to Yahweh, testifying, “I wholly followed the LORD my God” (Josh. 14:8). At age 85, he declared, “The LORD has kept me alive” and “I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me” (vv. 10–11). Pressing forward ambitiously to his own reward, he urged Joshua, “Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day” (v. 12). Caleb did not rest on memories but focused on the future. He waited and prepared for the opportunity to take the land, even in his old age.
After I shared Pastor Swindoll’s statement “Our dreams must be bigger than our memories” with my friend, we had a great conversation about the fact that, indeed, life does change; but more importantly, God does not. He allows us to choose how we react to life’s changes. Once my friend determined to find new opportunities and move forward instead of camping in the past, his eyes were opened; and he became genuinely excited about his present and his future.
What about you? What situation are you facing that causes you to camp in the past? Life brings change. God wants us to look forward, adjust to the present, and step out in faith. Let Paul’s words to the Philippian believers encourage you: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13–14).
Like Ruth, Caleb, Paul, and other heroes of the Bible, may your dreams be bigger than your memories.
