I’ve been in Deuteronomy in my daily Bible reading lately. Here Moses is giving the children of Israel a summary of what’s happened to them since they left Egypt (Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers) before they head into the Promised Land. He’s reminding them of the choices they’ve made, both good and bad. He’s reminding them of God’s goodness to them even though they’d given God some pretty good reasons to just quit on them. He’s reminding them of failures and triumphs. He’s reminding them of these things so they will have them in mind and learn from them. Moses doesn’t want them to make the same mistakes in the Promised Land as they did in the wilderness, and wants them to have peace because they’re following God the way they should.
This got me thinking about how summarizing the past important to do in life, not just individually, but corporately. Whether it’s a family, a friend group, a work group, a church, or what have you, we should sometimes look back on where we have been together and see what we’ve learned as we step forward into the future together. Sometimes we need to look back on what previous generations have done and learned so we can go forward even better. Will we still sometimes make the same mistakes? Yes, but we don’t have to. Will we make new mistakes? Yes, and we should make those known so no one else has to do it that way. Will we have some of the same successes? Yes, and we should be sure to do them better if there is a way to do so. Will we have some new successes? Yes, and we should make those known so others can have them, and perhaps even improve on them.
Related:
Looking Back on and Forward to God’s Goodness
Looking Back to Go Forward
Looking Back and Considering the Present
Looking Back
Looking Back Again