Looking Backwards or Remembering forward?

The past matters.
But it also matters what we do with the past.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the biblical distinction between looking backward and remembering.

Remembering

Scripture calls on us to do a lot of remembering. But what is it we are called on to remember? Not our past defeats or even our past victories. Instead, we are called on to remember Who God is, what He has said and done, and what He intends to do. When we remember our sins, it is for the purpose of being forgiven by Him. When we remember how we have been sinned against, it is so He can show us how to forgive. When we remember our hurts, it is so we can receive His comfort.

Psalm 77:11
I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

Psalm 78:35
They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer

Psalm 105:5
Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

Psalm 119:52
I remember your ancient laws, O LORD, and I find comfort in them.

Psalm 119:55
In the night I remember your name, O LORD, and I will keep your law.

Psalm 143:5
I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.

Luke 24:6
He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

Luke 24:8
Then they remembered his words.

2 Timothy 2:8
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel...

Revelation 3:3
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent

Simeon and Anna are models to us for how to deal with the past. As they see the baby Jesus, Simeon remembered the promises of ancient prophecy, and Anna "spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem."

However, to remember the past apart from the Lord's thoughts and actions puts us in the position of "looking backward" and tempts us to acedia.

Jeremiah 7:23-24
23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

The point of remembering is, paradoxically, to be able to better focus on God, so that we can continue moving forward toward a deeper relationship with Him through His Son and the Spirit. In this way, the past propels us to our proper end.

Looking backward

But as sinful creatures, we do not always allow the past to function positively. Instead, we ignore it or twist it so that the focus is on ourselves or on worldly matters, instead of on the Lord. Scripture calls this "looking backward," in contrast to "remembering."

Luke 9:57-62
He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

Here, both men are captives of their past, and so are unable to be captivated by Christ. It is a familiar situation. The following passage presents yet another way fixation on the past-- instead of fixing on the God who Was and Is and Is to Come--can prevent us from reaching His goal for us. :

Numbers 11:4-6
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

Here the Israelites are not actually "remembering," but are rather "looking backward," as evidenced by the object of their attention: fruit and vegetables, instead of God. But the classic text of a backward-looker, however, is the story of Lot's wife:

Genesis 19: 24-26

Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

I can imagine Lot's wife, overcome with memories of the past, mourning her lost home and friends and market stalls. Against the men's specific warning not to look back in v. 17, she does look back. Furthermore, she doesn't just give a quick glance; she gives a long, dwelling gaze (as I have been told is indicated by the Hebrew text). Spiritually, if not physically, she is turned away from the Lord and focused on herself, on her own loss and pain. The consequences are fatal.

Conclusion

History is neither to be ignored nor idolized. Both can be means of "turning away" from God. It is impossible to faithfully live for the Lord in the present if we ignore the past. It is similarly impossible to live a life in step with Him, if in looking backward we are frozen by our own concerns.

The trick is to keep in step with the Spirit, who enables us to simultaneously move forward and remember:

John 14:26

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.