Today is the Present

“They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,”
let Israel say;
“they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
Plowmen have plowed my back
and made their furrows long.
But the LORD is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.”
(Psalm 129:1-4 NIV)

Yesterday can have some pretty powerful impact on our lives. If we let it, yesterday can control how we react today and even tomorrow. How I reacted yesterday out of anger and hurt, can effect how I react today when I even think about the offenses of yesterday. If you think about it, focusing on yesterday rather than today, will effect tomorrow. In other words, what has happened in the past can have a pretty big impact on what happens in the present and even in the future. If we choose to dwell on the past hurts in our lives instead of the present blessings, we will find ourselves having problems in the future. I know I am not the only one who has dwelt on something negative that has happened in my life. When we stay focused on the problems in our lives, or on our past, we are placing ourselves in bondage to them. They become an idol in which all our thoughts and emotions and actions sprout from and grow like weeds. These weeds start to choke out the beautiful flowers of growth in our lives. Focusing on what has happened, or even on what might happen, causes us to take our focus off of God and then we trip and fall and stumble, grasping wildly for something on the way down. What struck me about this passage is this; “they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me." You see while he was greatly oppressed by someone or something, he has not allowed the oppressors to gain victory over him. His oppressors couldn't gain any ground over him! Why? Because "the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.” His focus wasn't on what had happened to him. It was on the very nature and character of God. How valuable would it be to us to take our focus off of the things that so easily trip us up, and off of the things that consume our thoughts and have become idols, and place our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith, our rescuer and strength! In keeping our focus off of yesterday, what has happened to us, what others have done to us, we can clearly see the present! Yesterday is gone. It's done. It's behind us, we can't change it. The present is now. Today is here. Are you going to focus on yesterday and keep yourself in bondage, or are you going to press on full speed ahead today, keeping your focus on God and then enjoying the blessings of tomorrow? Think about it and then decide. The choice is yours. Victory can be yours too.