Trust God with Your Past

Life has always been uncertain, but with the ongoing pandemic we have a heightened awareness and constant reminders of just how fragile it really is.  During times like these, most who know the Word of God and the character of God know that we should place our trust in Him.  We can base this trust, not only on His Word, but on our personal experiences with God in times of trouble and uncertainty.  We are compelled by the greatness of the problem we’re facing and our inability to control or mitigate any of it, to simply trust God.

Trusting God is always the answer, even when we feel we have options and our destiny is in our own hands.  In times when even those who love Him are inclined to lean to their own understanding, He alone remains in control at every turn.

As I prayed to God about trusting Him, and I reflected on my lack of trust in certain situations, he impressed upon me the real depth of this trust thing and what real trust in God should look like for me personally.  I was praying about trusting God in the present and for the future, and working through “casting all my care on Him”… when the more I prayed, I began to see that in order to trust God with my present and my future, I had to first trust Him with my past.

If you’re like me, the past holds for you a lot of moments and events that in hindsight seem to have been hindrances to your progress.  We could all spend a good deal of time saying, “If I hadn’t made that decision, ” or “If this person hadn’t done (A, B, or C).”  The past is full of turning points and crucial moments where we could’ve gone another way and perhaps changed the entire trajectory of our lives.  When dealing with the past, I accepted a long time ago that it cannot be changed.  But another fact about the events of the past is that God knew already what would be before it occurred.  Not bound by time, He sees the end from the beginning.  He had taken my entire past into consideration when he chose to love and accept me.  He saw my lowest moments, and my highest achievements and everything in between before I was ever born, and none of it changed his mind.  He knows the tragedies, the depths of despair, the rejections, the weaknesses… all of it.

So since He knew those things and allowed them to be, I can release them.  I can clear the space in my mind that is cluttered with “If only…” and turn it over to Him.  I can trust that He has always had the plan for my life and just like He knows where I am at this very moment, He knows the path that brought me here.  He sacrificed His only Son, whose blood cleansed me from the guilt and shame of the past that tried to stain me.  His scars are proof that He has healed my scars.  All that remains is gratefulness that the same God who was there when I didn’t know to trust Him, and when I knew better and still didn’t trust Him, is here and deserving of my complete trust now and forever.  He has proven himself dependable, a shelter, a friend and a Father.  I trust his love for me, I trust His wisdom in plotting the course of my life, I trust his timing in everything.  He is able to protect and sustain me and bring about His best in my life.

Oh for grace to trust Him more!