Leaving and Taking
The start of a new year is a time to look forward rather than backward. For many, 2022 has been a year to forget—sickness, death of loved ones, disappointments in people or circumstances. We hope the new year will be a fresh start.
Our church did a meaningful exercise on New Year’s Day. Based on the Israelite’s crossing through the Jordan River into the Promised Land (Joshua 3:13-4:24), the pastor asked us to write down on one card the things from 2022 that we want to take with us into the new year, and then on the other card to write down the things in 2022 that we want to leave behind. Then we each in single file dropped the card of things to be left behind into one basket and the card with the things to take with us into the other basket.
The idea is that, like the Israelites, there are things we should hang onto to carry with us into 2023—God’s faithfulness to us through his provision (money, housing, food, etc.), his mercy in forgiving our sins, and his calling on our lives. But also like the Israelites, there are things we should leave behind. The Israelites were punished with 40 years of wandering in the desert. None of the adults besides Joshua and Caleb were allowed to move into the Promised Land. The rest of the Israelites were either children of the punished adults or were born to the children of those adults. They were not held responsible, but still had to endure the punishment of wandering in the desert. Imagine the shame and disappointment they must have felt. It would have been easy to carry that with them into the Promised Land, even though where they were going contained so many possibilities of joy and blessing.
As we begin 2023, we can view this as an opportunity to cross over into a year of wonderful possibilities where we take with us the faith and knowledge of God’s goodness in our lives and the readiness to receive whatever he has for us. At the same time, we can enter 2023 without the baggage of the 2022’s hurts and disappointments.
As I have been spending the past few weeks in Isaiah, two passages stood out to me.
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. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. (Isaiah 43:18-21)
See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. (Isaiah 65:17)
These two passages together provide a challenge and a hope for us in 2023. Forgetting what we experienced last year is easier said than done. In fact, forgetting the past, regardless of how long ago, is monumentally difficult. I think the Lord understands this. How do we forget a past of abuse, grief, or injustice? It won’t come easily or naturally. Yet, one way to begin getting there is intentionally focusing on what the Lord is doing in the present and his promises for the future. These two passages emphasize both.
God does want to do a new thing in your life this year. Ask him for the strength to embrace it and leave behind your all that weighs you down and holds you back. And in the midst of the struggle to do so, remember his promise that one day “the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”
© Jim Musser 2023 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.
