The humbling aspects of looking back, both good and bad, become apparent when one reaches my age. I am more aware of the grace and mercy that God has bestowed upon me. I have been a part of Him working literal miracles through me. My self-awareness of my own limitations makes me feel humbled by these achievements.
I am also able to see when I foolishly leaned on my own understanding and regretfully brought pain and suffering. I’m also sure I unknowingly limited what God wanted to do in and through me. I’ve often said, I wish I had known about this 50 years ago!!
I recently did some Bible reflection on the book Isaiah the prophet wrote. Chapter 48 seems to reflect sad grief on God’s part. Notice with me; “16 Come closer and listen to this. From the beginning, I have told you plainly what would happen. And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit have sent me with this message. 17 This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow [alt: for you to profit or do what is best for you]. 18 Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea. 19 Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore— too many to count! There would have been no need for your destruction, or for cutting off your family name.’” Isaiah 48:16–19 NLT.
I have been in the Philippines for the last 3 months. When I arrived on January 1, I was stunned by the level of peace of God I sensed.
To me, although Connie and I have faced countless serious life difficulties, I have also consciously found and felt God’s peace throughout our lives. His peace has served as my primary guide for many years. It allowed me to experience a multitude of divine interventions. Yet, my recent Philippine experience was notably more extreme. If God’s peace on Earth can be this powerful, I pondered how much greater it must be in Heaven. When I pondered the above passage, it messed with my thinking. It made me wonder just how much more of God’s gifts I had missed out on in my earlier decades of my efforts to follow God.
It then struck me how much those less committed to finding God have missed and continue to do so. I grieved for their losses, and mine, as God was mourning for the people of Israel. Could it be that you may very well have also missed out on so many blessings you could have had if you had been more intimate with God through the years? Does it also make you regretful?
But let’s remind ourselves, our life is not over. All of us may have missed out on so many blessings God wanted to give us. However, by altering our daily lives to more closely align with God’s word, we can still experience more of what Paul was inspired to write. “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20 NLT. We can’t change our past, but we can improve our future. How? By taking initiative to better align ourselves with what God has already told us.