“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5 ESV)

There was a time, before I trusted in Jesus’ knowing better than myself, when everything worldly seemed up for grabs. It was a time of exploring our coming-of-age freedoms. For me, this included a girlfriend. Latterly, I realized that this relationship was not for me. I struggled to let go, but did so because I knew that God was calling. God led me into something totally different, ending up in my going to Bible college in 1983.

Since then, I have learnt that just because we can does not mean that we should. All the self-centred pride, success, heartache, guilt, embarrassment, and shame, which I accrued during this time souled-out to the world, left me with baggage to carry, not that I was aware of it then, because of the times that we lived in.

Recently, I had a telephone call from an old friend. We had not spoken for years, as our correspondence had been reduced to the annual letter enclosed with a Christmas card. However, because of our past closeness, our chat was like it was only last week when we had been out on the town, so profound was the connection, which took me off guard.

This dialogue allowed the memories to come flooding in, bypassing my caution. It was, in effect, a free pass to my soul, despite the subsequent differing paths that we had taken. In our camaraderie, I found myself curiously asking about my ex-girlfriend, which was an error in judgement!

After the call, I realized that I had lost my inner peace and felt sad and wistful for times past. I lacked the deep-down conviction to put the genie back into the bottle because I was enthralled. Then, I cried out to God to help me to let go of my curiosity and move on, not to get sucked into reliving the memories of the past, or worse — to be tempted to go digging!

When I reached a place of submission, God’s peace came flooding back. With the peace came a picture of a lake in a barren wood. In front of the still, dark water was a warning sign that read, NO FISHING!

With the picture, subsequently came the word repentance. Repentance is an oft-overused word in Christian circles, meaning to turn around, away from sin; an action. Here, it was a statement about a completed action. Having set my back against the lake of past memories, I was warned not to return or even wonder, but to look upwards, moving forwards out of danger with Jesus.

I share His solution for all who are caught out looking back wistfully: NO FISHING.

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.” (Psalm 32:1-2a ESV)

Glorious!

Prayer: Lord God, how sweet is the sound of Jesus’ love and forgiveness to a sinner’s ears! Amen.


Copyright © 2022, by Rod Marshall <roderickhenrymarshall@gmail.com>, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca .
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

Reprinted from PresbyCan with author’s permission