Learn, Not Dwell June 20, 2016

⁸ Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” ⁹ And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.

¹⁰ The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. 1 Samuel 18:8-10 ESV 

On one of the doors to a barracks at Auschwitz, there is a plaque with these immortal words from George Santayana, "The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again."  There is a fine line between remembering the past so we can learn from it and dwelling on the past.  Saul seems to have done neither.

In chapters of 13 and 15 of 1 Samuel, we find Saul is the object of God's displeasure because Saul listened to and was swayed by the murmurings of the people.  He was more concerned about the opinion polls than God's plan for his life.  Once again in chapter 18, Saul becomes fixated on what others are saying.  And once again, Saul suffers for his disobedience.

1 Samuel presents the two extremes of ignoring and dwelling in the past.  Samuel is reprimanded by God in chapter 16 for moping around about a past failure.  Yet Saul gives no thought to past sin and as a result repeats the same transgression over and over.

I tend to be a dweller.  All too often my reflection strays from "what can I learn from this" to "I am an awful person and will never recover from (fill in the blank)".  I believe God would have us reflect on the past, but only with the goal of improving and avoiding a repeat.

Easier done than said for some of us dwellers.  So how can the dwellers among us accomplish this task.

First- prayer.  Pray that God will take captive every thought.  When we head down that road of reflection, ask God for it to be a productive trip.  For each thought of failure, search for the lesson to be learned and a plan to avoid.

Second- limits.  Don't allow the trip down failure lane to consume much of your quiet/prayer time.  Confess your sin.  Construct a plan to avoid in the future.  Then move on.

Third- pray.  Satan will do his best to reinsert thoughts of past failure into your mind.  Don't allow it.  Rebuke him.  Realize those thoughts are not from God and serve no constructive purpose.  

Ignoring the past is dangerous.  Living there likewise.  Acknowledging past failures allow for an improved future.