The Past Has No Future Series

THE PAST HAS NO FUTURE (1 KINGS 1:11-22, 41-53)

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with, out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting discouraged, he headed back to dinner.

As he was walking back, he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch that day Grandma said, Sally, let's wash the dishes. But Sally said, Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today, didn't you Johnny? And then she whispered to him, Remember, the duck? So Johnny did the dishes.

Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing, and Grandma said, I'm sorry, but I need Sally to help me make supper. But Sally smiled and said, Well, that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help. And she whispered again, Remember, the duck? Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he killed the duck. She knelt down, gave him a hug, and said Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. But, I was just wondering how long would you let Sally make a slave of you.

Are you a prisoner or victim of the past? Have you surmounted the past, especially its cruel, complex and colored history?

The past is a wonderful teacher or the worst trap. We can live in the past, leave out the past or live in the present and learn from the past. We can embrace the past, escape it or employ it.

When King David was old and ill, Solomon, one of his youngest sons assumed the throne in a most unlikely manner. It began when his brother Adonijah plotted to ascend the throne and invited all the brothers except Solomon to the self-proclaimed coronation.

Solomon’s father was David, the most recognizable, the highly regarded and the greatly revered king of Israel. However, David failed as a husband and father. Besides his first wife, who was Saul’s daughter Michal, he had at least seven wives (1 Chron 3:1-5) and ten concubines (2 Sam. 15:16). 1 Chronicles 3 records that six became his wives in his seven and a half years of exile in Hebron – one a year, and Bathsheba he forcibly took from Uriah while in Jerusalem. He had ten sons from his seven wives and another nine sons whose mothers were not named, not counting daughters and more sons from his concubines.

Why do we have to better our past, especially with its burdensome history? How is one able to overturn and overcome the past?

Free Yourself from Past Consummation

16 Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king. “What is it you want?” the king asked. 17 She said to him, “My Lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the LORD your God: ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’ 18 But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my Lord the king, do not know about it. 19 He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. 20 My Lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my Lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise, as soon as my Lord the king is laid to rest with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.” (1 Kings 1:16-21)

The famed architect-designer, Stanford White (1853–1906), once shocked an editor by the high price he charged for a magazine cover design. Although he had spent much thought in preparing the design, its classic simplicity caused his customer to wonder at the bill of $500—a goodly sum at the turn of the 1900s.

“I’d say that was a pretty steep price for such a plain design,” said the editor. “The price,” explained White, “was for knowing what to leave out.” (Appleseeds.com, Source: Best of Three Minutes A Day, Vol. 26, Dec. 22)

The past has a lengthy reach and a long extension if you do not cut its arms. It has a long memory if you continually save and file unhappiness and pain away instead of deleting it for good, considering it as junk, or throwing it into the trash bin.