Someone just told me I should write about forgetting the past. Should we? Especially the really sad, rough, ungodly things that others did to us? Let’s face it: it’s easier said than done. Of course forgiveness is the key but it may not be the only one. I guess some folks who don’t have the Lord can “forgive and forget” but I’m sure it’s much easier if we have His grace for it all.

You’d think that with the life I’ve had as a missionary, living for decades on foreign fields, working with dedicated Christians, that it must have just been one big bed of roses and strawberry fields forever. Sometimes it was like that. But there also were some shocking, heartbreaking, soul-stumbling events that transpired between Christian brethren that were just unspeakably pitiful and should have never happened. Talk about “deceiving the elect” (Matthew 24:24), sadly the elect of God can be deceived, tripped off and just led about by their carnal reasoning, selfish lusts and desires for dominion over others, except for the intervention of God. And sometimes it seems like that didn’t even help.

Israel of old was mightily blessed by God but ultimately defeated and destroyed by their enemies but not before they had already been defeated from within by their own sins. And so it can still happen just the same to believers in our times. I’ve been a victim of some things like that in the past and, Lord help and forgive me, I may have not done enough to intervene when I saw things that were wrong where I was.

And there’s a question to be asked, “When is the past not the past?” When are the sins and cruelty of the past still affecting us today, especially in our memories that we carry or the things we’ve heard from others that happened? Are we doomed to carry with us these memories, even decades after some event happened?

Well, thank God there is hope. Thank God for Him, for His Son, Jesus and the unspeakably mighty power they have in our lives. For me, the mightiest force in the universe is the Word of God. I’ve experienced its healing and deliverance in situations where the circumstances were utterly hopeless. But the Bible says, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work.” (II Timothy 4:18) And that’s the truth.

Maybe you were touched, affected, singed and even damaged by some evil work, some atrocity and it even was from some Christian. I’ve had that happen to me, actually a few times. It was wrong, it was mean, it was personal and it was intentional. So what do I do? What did I do?

The first thing was I had to keep my eyes on Jesus, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith“. (Hebrews 12:2) I turned my attention to situations in the Bible where people of God in the past went through similar things. Of course the greatest injustice in history was the crucifixion of Jesus. A righteous and perfect Man condemned to a cruel death.

It’s good to remember that when we are mulling over the horrible things that have happened to us. Or like Joseph in Egypt, sold as a slave by his brothers but he found the grace of God to say to them, “You meant it for evil but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20)

It’s like King David said in Psalm 77, he went over so many bad things that were happened so that it was nearly killing him. But then he said, “But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high, I will remember…” (Psalm 77: 10 & 11) Actually he said “I will remember” 3 times in a row in that Psalm. Maybe that’s a key and answer. We have to just not let the horror, atrocities and injustice become our fixation. Because that will insure the final victory of those sins against you, that they will permanently defeat you.

We just can’t allow that. I just couldn’t allow those things to snuff out my life, no matter how bad it was. I even thought of the book of Job and how evidently righteous he had been and but then some really almost crazy things happened to virtually destroy him. As it turned out, Job actually did have a few things that the Lord was dealing with. And in my experience, during the very worst times that went on actually for close to 2 years, the Lord was dealing with me about a few things, as well as just breaking me and making me into a better vessel, like it says in Jeremiah 18

But, certainly, there comes a time where we can take to heart what Paul said in Philippines 3:13 and 14, “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to the things before, I press towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Some things that we still don’t understand just have to be wrapped up in a bundle of faith and put away somewhere till the day that it’s explained to us by the Lord.

Ultimately, if we’re to stay alive for the Lord, we have to find and claim healing and forgiveness for whatever happened, whoever sinned against you. This is what I wrote about in “Ghost”.

Rehashing the past, if you feel you just have to, should be done in private with someone strong in the Lord. Otherwise it can easily be an avenue for the enemy to spew out on others all the old horrors you experienced from long ago. Lord help us all, as wounded as many of us are, to cast our cares on Him, to forgive those who’ve sinned against us and to keep our eyes on Jesus and the future He has for us all.