Don't Look Back

“Don’t Look Back”

December 28, 2025, CCCAG

Scriptures Psalm 77:11–14; Deuteronomy 8:2; Lamentations 3:21–23

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INTRODUCTION:

For me, 2025 was the epitome of an old Chinese saying- “May you live in interesting times”

What sounds like a blessing to our ears is actually a curse. It’s basically saying “May your life be filled with trouble, hardship, and difficulty.”

That’s been 2025 for many of us.

My year started out with a lot of stress as workers comp delayed my case after I had an obvious work place injury with my shoulder, and I spent a few months without any income.

Then a surgery

Then a recovery. Some light duty, then a switch to being a hospice nurse.

Lasted a few months, then switched back to ER nursing- the closest thing I could get to my first love- being a paramedic.

Had a large struggle adapting to being an ER nurse in a major trauma center- it’s a very different beast than what I was used to.

Now, reinjured the shoulder….let those games begin again with workers comp.

In national news-

We saw a newly elected president implement radical policies- and when I say radical, I’m not referring to a political ideology, but to the scope of what he is doing.

We see an uneasy peace in Gaza, but the Russia/Ukraine war rages on.

We also saw an assassination of a major conservative icon, Charlie Kirk.

Those are just a few random stories I picked.

Friends, today is the last Sunday of 2025.

This is the time of year where we naturally want to look back and are tempted to make a decision.

Some of you will slam the door on this year and never look back.

Others are holding onto moments from 2025, perhaps because of significant events that occurred in your life, good or bad.

Or maybe this last year was awesome for you, and you cling to moments that were filled with blessing, moments of healing, moments of grace.

Most of us? We’re somewhere in the middle — carrying joy in one hand and heartache in the other.

There is a powerful truth in the scripture that teaches us-

God never commands His people to rush past a season without remembering it.

In fact, the bible shows us that remembering is an act of worship.

We are going to be seeing that today as we look at several scriptures and we will see three examples of this truth.

Because the Bible teaches us that you can’t step confidently into tomorrow if you don’t first look back and see God in your yesterday.

So before we step into 2026, we’re going to do something holy:

We’re going to see how we view the past through God’s eyes, not our own.

Let’s go to Psalm 77.

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1. REMEMBERING GOD’S WORK: “I WILL RECALL YOUR WONDERS” (Psalm 77:11)

“I will remember the deeds of the LORD;

yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.”

Before we pray, I’ll note that The psalmist doesn’t say,

“I will remember MY accomplishments.”

He doesn’t say,

“I will remember the things I did right.”

He says:

“I will remember the deeds of the LORD.”

With that in mind, let’s pray

Prayer

There is something that is precious when we remember the past and see where God’s blessings shined through.

Because when you review a year without the lens of God’s activity, you will always distort reality.

You’ll either:

Beat yourself up

Inflate your ego

Collapse into discouragement

Or miss the quiet miracles that held you together.

That’s the danger of the attitude of “Don’t Look Back”, the title of today’s message.

For me

I am constantly looking back, reevaluating, remembering times when it seemed like something was overwhelming. Times where it seemed like God had backed away, and I was floundering in the middle of the ocean in a hurricane.

Times when paychecks didn’t come (>100 days)

Times when I was hurt

Times when I was disabled

Times when I couldn’t even function as an adult and was dependent on Tammie for everything.

But when I look back, and ask God-

“God, show me what YOU were doing in all of this,”

everything begins to shift.

Do that this morning-

Take a moment, and think about this last year, and look back and ask God-

Show me how you carried me when I didn’t have strength?

Show me how you held something together that should have fallen apart?

Show me how you healed something I thought was permanent?

Again, Look back- see how God might have-

Restored a relationship?

Protected you?

Provide in a way you didn’t expect?

Some of you survived things this year that nobody knows about.

Some of you walked through storms that should have drowned you — but God’s strength and grace kept your head above water.