Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. – Isaiah 43:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 19, 2017): Isaiah 43

Apparently, Donald Trump doesn’t like to be laughed at. And, unfortunately, he believes that the world is laughing at him. So Donald Trump will do whatever it takes to remove the laughter from out of the world – and replace it with something else. I wonder if there was something in his past that has so deeply affected him that he struggles with seeing the world as it is. All he can do is react from the pain that is in his past.  

It is easy to pick on “the Donald,” but the problem is not solely his. It is part of life. We have all been laughed at, and most of us have been picked on. It would have probably changed the way that we understood life during our middle school years if we could have known that the mean kids were doing nothing more than protecting themselves from the pain that all too often they felt that life was giving to them. Donald Trump has baggage, but then, so do all of the rest of us. Life has not been gentle with any of us who walk on the face of this planet.

So, we have a choice. We can gather up all of the hurt that life has given to us, and react with anger toward the world – or we can make the active choice to put the hurt behind us and forge our way into the world. The easy path is to allow the damage to shape us. The harder way is not to allow the pain of our lives to shape the future.

Isaiah reminds his people of that fact. Their past is full of pain. Their lives are being lived away from home, and away from the places that they know. And they have the choice of allowing that hurt that is all too real in their lives to shape their future and then fall back into the habits of the forefathers, or to forget what has happened in the past so that they could grasp all that God had for them in the future. Paul in Philippians rephrases Isaiah when he says “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

To Donald Trump, the President of the United States, no one is laughing. We want the best for this world just as you do. But we must put away the things of the past, forget the pain that is behind and begin the process of fixing the world … together.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 44