Let it go!

“Forget the former things” (Isaiah 43:18)

It burst into movie theaters on November 27, 2013, and didn’t take long for it to become a sensation – especially in the hearts and minds of little girls.  Frozen was one of those movies that smashed all projections.  Seen by over a million, it garnered 128 million You Tube views.  And it made Anna and Elsa an animated hit!

But probably the one thing from that movie that stands out in the minds of young and old is the song, “Let it go!”  You could hardly turn on a radio or walk into a store without hearing the tune.  It embedded in our minds the memory of little girls in blue dresses imitating the characters of Frozen as they sang the words over and over – “Let it go!” “Let it go!”  “Let it go!”

Those three words have a very significant theological principle and precept for us as well.  Isaiah chapter 43 tells of the mercy of God toward Israel.  His mercy in spite of their unfaithfulness.  Though rebellious, God gave Israel hope by admonishing them with these words – “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!” (verses 18-19).  The Lord told his people Israel that he was in the process of doing something new, exciting, exhilarating.  Something too wonderful for them to grasp at that moment.  But…..before he would do it, there was one thing he admonished his people to do – “forget the former things and do not dwell on the past.”

What a great principle for all of us to follow.  Forget the former things.  Forget in the Hebrew means to “fail to hold to mind.”  The old, hurtful failures of our own or someone else’s making.  It doesn’t mean we will lose all ability to remember those things.  It means we make a conscious choice to not think, dwell, or meditate on them.  It means when they try to sneak into the recesses of our thoughts, we immediately push them out, and replace those thoughts with things that are “true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable.” (Philippians 4:8).  The power the Holy Spirit gives us when we focus on the right things, shoves the negative painful thoughts aside.

I find it interesting that God told Israel to “let it go” – forget the former things and stop dwelling on the past before he told them he was “doing a new thing.”  Could it be that our being consumed with the past hinders us from experiencing God’s new things?  Never ruin a good day by thinking about a bad yesterday.  Let it go!

                                                                             Darlene