We had caught a few catfish in the 100 feet of water where we anchored. But my son and I decided it was time to find a more productive spot on the lake. When he tried pulling up the anchor, we realized it had snagged on something. I cranked the motor and tried jerking it loose from all directions. Every effort failed. “What are we going to do?” We had only two choices. We could sit there and hope a friendly fish would come by and untangle it—yes, ridicule! I told him to cut the anchor rope. We lost the rope and a good anchor, but we could move on, buy new rope, and new anchor.
I remembered this as I watched an interview with a woman who had experienced the tragic loss of a child. Yet for years, this mom refused to let go and move on. She anchored herself to this past event. This led to the failure of her marriage and loss of her career and friends. She told the interviewer she finally decided to let go. “So, you are back to normal now?” asked the host. “No, you can never go back to normal; you must begin a new normal.” I thought, what a great insight of wisdom from her personal experience? She had anchored to her past for ten years and finally decided to cut the rope and move on.
The list of trials that can anchor us to the past is endless: death of a loved one, failed marriage, empty nest, hurt, unforgiveness, bitterness, physical strength, people, personal failure, fear of future, etc. Solomon declared there is a time for every event under heaven (Ecc 3:1). Then he contrasted fourteen events that last only for a time and then left behind. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away (Ecc 3:6). The problem arises when we refuse to stop searching or will not throw away.
Often when people sought my help they began, “I want life be like it used to be.” The reality, it will never be the same. Life around us keeps advancing and changing. When we returned to America after four years in Africa, we discovered life had not been on pause; it had changed. Friends and relatives changed, technology advanced, places we remembered had been torn down, new roads built, and acquaintances had died.
Paul said, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead (Phil 3:13). Obviously, we can’t remove the past from our memory. The word forgetting also translates, ‘no longer caring for’. Past events good and bad remained in Paul’s mind, but he no longer cared for them. He did not anchor to them. Instead, he kept moving pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Note two important lessons in this verse. “Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? (Isaiah 43:18). We cannot erase the memory of the past; however, we don’t have to call it to mind. Second, the Lord asked a question. We can be so anchored to the past, we overlook the new things God is trying to accomplish, will you not be aware of it?
After Nebuchadnezzar’s final invasion Jeremiah sat looking down on the destroyed and burned city of Jerusalem, he wrote a dirge or a funeral song. Yet, as he looked at the devastation, he also saw the hope of the future. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness (Lam 3:22, 23). Tomorrow we will awake to a new day, a new beginning, and new opportunities. Don’t let today’s failure anchor you and prevent you from moving forward.
Only one anchor should hold us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us (Heb 6:19, 20). When we anchor in Him, we won’t worry about the past. Job could have continued sitting in his ashes and held on to the sorrow of all he had lost. Yet, he had anchored himself to the Lord God and cut the ropes of his past. God blessed him with a new family and twice as many possessions. Jesus always has something better. Don’t hold on to the past and not be aware of the new things God wants to spring forth.
Dr. Warren Wiersbe said it well, “You do not move ahead by constantly looking in a rear view mirror. The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you. We must learn from the past but not live in the past”.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Cut the rope. God can replace the anchor and rope. In fact, He gives a new anchor—Jesus. What has you anchored?