Be Still: 30 Devotions for the Hopeful HeartExemplo

Remove the Scarlet Letter

But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. ISAIAH 50:7 ESV

There is messy stuff in our past. Hard stuff. Broken places and stories that we don’t really prefer to share. Our history has heartbreak and confusion, lots of fear and mistakes, and a whole lot of us not believing what the good Lord has said about us. If we go back there? It feels too heavy. Doesn’t He want us to live in the present? We tell ourselves this, being afraid to look in the rearview mirror and see the person we once were in case we still look anything like them.

But who said our past has to be labeled “toxic” simply because it is uncomfortable? That’s not to say that it is healthy to rehearse strongholds and past fears or marinate on what used to be. However, we would be foolish not to glean from our past and realize that Jesus made no mistakes about how we got to where we are today. Our past was never supposed to be our source of shame but rather our springboard to something so much greater.

When we “scarlet letter” ourselves and let guilt or shame be the label we place on our past, we strip them of the power they provide in our present. When we say we believe in the redemptive power of Jesus, we are stating in full confidence that we know our past has prepared our hearts for this present moment. Our capability, compassion, and calling have been made possible by both our mistakes and our successes. Because we know the depth of our pit, we more greatly comprehend the strength and magnitude of the grace required to take us to where we are today.

The Lord is wildly attracted to our weakness. Masking the pain of past experiences keeps us and others from witnessing mercy in motion. We are where we are for such a time as this, with such a story as this, for such a purpose as this. Our old selves have prepared us for our future plans, and we have been made new.

Dear Jesus, thank You for taking all our guilt and our shame upon the cross. We know that Your redemptive power turns even our biggest failures into springboards for greatness. You make all things good and glorious. Help us to see our past with a hopeful heart. In Jesus’s name, Amen.