Look Ahead

Whenever I have the opportunity to watch a field get harvested, whether by workers or by tractors, I can’t help but noticed the constant forward movement. You don’t see people skipping through rows looking around and hoping to find something to pick. It is more of a methodical process isn’t it? Workers go down the rows looking at each plant and picking the ones that are ripe. They accomplish the harvest by putting one foot in front of the other. One hand in front of the other. And they are always looking in front of them, not behind them.

Last week we did a thorough study on John 4, but I want to return to the verse we started with. Jesus said, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” Open your eyes and look up, there are people all around you who need Jesus.

There are a lot of other verses that speak to this concept. Philippians 3:13-14, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Our own personal faith journey leads us forward, we don’t have time to look back in regret or defeat.

At one point a young man came to Jesus and told Him that he would follow Him but first he wanted to go and say goodbye to his family. Jesus quickly responded by saying, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

So what are the dangers of looking or turning back?

When I look back over my life and see the times I have failed, I quickly begin to believe that I am unworthy and incapable of what God has called me to do. I discredit my own faith and my abilities based on who I once was. This can keep us from moving forward in our own faith journey and it can keep us from reaping an eternal harvest because we will be too caught up in our past to ever step into the future God has for us.

Another danger of looking back is falling back into the sin that once dominated our life. If we have been saved out of sinful habits and freed from the deep pit of sinful behaviors we should never look back on our past and reminisce about those good old days. Romanticizing our past sin can be fatal. If we aren’t careful we can return right back to that pit. Take Lot’s wife for example. They were fleeing from Sodom and Gomorrah, where sin ran rampant. God was about to pour out His judgement upon these cities and He warned Lot and his family so they could get out in time. The warning that God sent to him was, flee for your lives, don’t look back, and don’t stop! As the sulfur was raining down behind them, destroying the towns where they once lived, Lot’s wife looked back. I can’t blame her. Watching all that you love be destroyed is heart wrenching. She wanted one last look at the life she had loved, even if that life was engulfed in sin. But because she looked back she was turned to a pillar of salt.

If we look back and fix our eyes on what was, we will be unable to gather what God has for us today. If we look back and are overcome with defeat, then how can we possibly share the good news of Jesus with others. We will be too preoccupied with our feelings of failure. If we look back and we decide that our old sinful life is better than what we have now, we won’t experience the beauty of leading someone to Jesus because we will have lost sight of Him.

Instead, we must look in front of us with eyes wide open to what God is doing here and now.

In Isaiah 43:18-19, God says, “Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

19 See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland.”

God “issues an important reminder: the past can teach and illustrate but it must not bind. The Lord always has greater things in store; he is revealed in the past, but he is always more than the past revealed.”

If the field you are in looks like dry and parched, or it looks like a wasteland, ask God to open your eyes. Ask Him to help you see what He has right in front of you. Let Him reveal who He has right in front of you who might need Jesus today.

5 years ago Carsten and I took a three day cruise. While we were eating dinner the first night a couple around our same age sat next to us. Our tables were awkwardly close together so we introduced ourselves and had a little conversation. We noticed that the husband was using a cane and looked extremely sick. We quickly learned that he had been a pastor and he was in the midst of a very scary battle with cancer. My heart broke for them. They had two little kids the same ages as ours. We continued to bump into them over the course of those three days. But on the last day while we were waiting to disembark, we just happened to run into them again. And the Holy Spirit nudged me to pray for his healing. It was awkward because I knew he had been well prayed for. But I obeyed and prayed for his healing. I added his wife as a friend on Facebook and watched as the next part of their journey played out. He has experienced healing from his cancer since we met them and they just had their third child. Every time I see their family pictures I am reminded of that time of prayer. It wasn’t me, it was God. But I am so thankful that He allowed me to be a part of their story. It’s amazing what we get to be a part of when we quit looking behind us and realize that God has so much for us to do right ahead if we would just open our eyes.

Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 306). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. The New International Version. (2011). (Is 43:18–19). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. The New International Version. (2011). (Lk 9:62). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. The New International Version. (2011). (Php 3:13–14). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. The New International Version. (2011). (Php 3:14). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. The New International Version. (2011). (Jn 4:35). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.