The Conquerer, The Sustainer and the the Promiser

 Remember Lot's wife.

Luke 17:32 (ESV)
 
"If this story of Lot's wife be true, and do live in our memory, then, why should not we stand and admire, and say, Lord, how unsearchable are Thy judgments, and Thy ways past finding out? Here are four, and but four that came out of Sodom, and yet one of the four were destroyed. God may deliver our family in the time of common calamity, and yet some of our house may suffer. God in the midst of judgment doth remember mercy; in the midst of mercy He remembers judgment. " (W. Bridge)
 
Sometimes we look back on what God has delivered us from with fondness. Like the children of Israel, we see the bondage we were in as something positive, even though we were miserable while we were in it.
 
For some reason, we tend to use the past to be miserable. We look back on the "good ol’ days" and think that we can never match the memories, or we look back and see how bad it was and become the victim of the past.
 
Either way, the past can become the most significant hindrance for the present, and block the future.
 
Jesus conquered the past by forgiving our sins. He sustains our life today by giving us the power over sin and delivers hope for tomorrow by His promise of removing us from the very presence of sin. I must rejoice in Him and look to Him, not my past.