18 “Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old.

19 Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

— Isaiah 43:18-19

For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.

— Proverbs 24:16

He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

— Micah 7:19

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

— Hebrews 4:16

The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

— Proverbs 4:18

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

Though there are times when God’s children need to consider our past and chart a new course from time to time. Looking back to discern our patterns of sin, blind spots, and foolish choices can help us recognize specific ways we remain vulnerable to sin. Avoiding tempting situations that expose our weakness can be helpful. By God’s grace, we do not need to be shackled by our former failures or caught helplessly in habitual sin.

On the one hand, God prods us forward when our spiritual growth stalls because of complacency, sin, or unbelief. On the other hand, we learn to process our past failures in a healthy way because God’s grace offers us freedom from past failures, and provides us forgiveness and a new identity in Christ. God has been faithfully calling us forward on the path of life in order to attain maturity. God charts a course for us toward progress and blessings, even when we encounter hard times. Let’s be encouraged by God’s word in Proverbs 4:18. It says, “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”