Forget the former things
When people talk about leaving the past behind, we often have in mind bad things that we want to forget. A broken relationship, a bad job, or perhaps some personal or financial loss. In the well known verses in Isaiah 43:18-19, God says to the Israelites "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." One might think that God was making the point that the Israelites should leave behind their disappointments and failures - the "wilderness" and "wasteland", and look forward to a brighter future. But at church service yesterday, it was pointed out that the preceding verses actually explain what it was that God was telling the Israelites to forget. Isaiah 43:16-17 says "This is what the LORD says - he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the arm