Wisdom teaches that even if the present seems challenging, it’s not right to say the past was better. For the righteous, today is brighter than all the days before, so it’s not right to say, “O those good old days…”
This is the thing that made Lot’s wife turn to look back when God had told her not to. This is the thing that made the Israelites yearn for the garlics and onions and leeks and melons in Egypt, and yet they were on the road to a better land whence slavery would no longer be a part of their lives.
This is also prevalent in many Christians today who claim, ‘so and so used to prophesy back in the day. He was discerning of lying spirits.’ Well, that was then. How about today? Is so and so still discerning? Shall we only testify of the past miraculous?
Would you trust a God who’d only split the red sea and that was it? Of course, seeing Him doing it again for you (even if it isn’t a splitting sea, causes your trust for Him to reinforce). No wonder we call Him the same yesterday today and forever.
I apply this to the believer out there: Do you still dream or not? Does your interpretation of dreams only linger in the days of yore! For if it does, then when Pharaoh dreams, you’ll be useless. You have to be seasoned. We all have to be seasoned daily!
Isaiah said that God gave him the tongue of the learned that he’d know how to speak a word IN SEASON to him that’s weary and that God awakened him DAILY (morning by morning) to hear as the learned. (Isaiah 50:4) ‘In season’ requires a daily course of action. God Himself knows He has to daily load us with benefits. He ensured that His mercies be new every morning. This teaches us that be it a gift or a grace, a constant renewal ought to happen in one way or another.
The psalmist wrote that God anoints his head with FRESH oil in Psalm 92:10, and what that means for me is that we shouldn’t be running with old wineskins. We shouldn’t be yearning for leftover oil. God desires that we run on something new. He Himself said, “Behold I am doing a new thing.”
I might be wrong, but it seems to be part of human nature to stop falling for ‘expired experiences.’ Even if Jesus healed blind eyes, at some point, men lost the awe that came with blind eyes opening. They wanted to see something different. Something that had never been done before. Then Jesus raised Lazarus, and a whole new awe for God fell on them. No wonder God has in store for us what no eye has seen! To manifest it, we need FRESH oil.
Perhaps you were a musician who no longer ‘sounds’ these days. I think the problem is that you’ve either left the grace that enabled your music in the past having been deceived that your era is over, or you haven’t renewed it. Psalms says the righteous should still be fruitful in their old age, so why should one say “O, your music belongs in the 80’s and 90’s.”
If indeed this music was inspired by the Holy Spirit, and He called you, and He’s the same yesterday today and forever, then He should make you write heartfelt songs today as He did ‘yesterday’. If you were listened to then, you can be listened to now. Such as these confirm His mark on your life. See Paul, yes He’s gone, but His letters have become standards two thousand years after he walked the earth.
What magic is this? What power makes a man continue to live even when the skin in his grave decomposed millenia ago!
I believe, it’s the constant renewal Paul exerted on his grace of writing that has enabled him remain relevant to all generations.
How can we renew ourselves, you may ask. Well, the practice of prayer, is one of those ways. Increasing in knowledge and revelation about whatever grace we’ve been given to steward is also another key. This can be through the reading of His word (obviously), and understanding that daily, these disciplines have to be kept or practiced.
So, as you go about your day, may you apply these to the grace God has given you. Understand that it’s one of the tools He has equipped you with to influence or touch the world. If it’s helping others, do your best. If it’s invention, go all out. If it’s comedy, make it rain joy. Only perceive that none of these should remain in your past. Like God’s nature, they must be alive and evident in your life from the word ‘go’, to the day He’ll return.
Keep renewing ‘them’ graces, lest you cease to be relevant to your generation.
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