Leave Behind Your Past

““Now listen, daughter, don’t miss a word: forget your country, put your home behind you. Be here —the king is wild for you. Since he’s your lord, adore him. Wedding gifts pour in from Tyre; rich guests shower you with presents.””
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭45:10-12‬ ‭MSG‬‬

This particular set of verses is good advice for a woman approaching marriage. The writers, the sons of Koran, advised the young woman to leave behind her ties to her country and her family and adore her husband. The Psalms is warning her to come into the relationship with intentionality. On the wedding day, her husband is wild for her. To keep that love alive, she must give up some things, put some stuff behind her.

Even now after 41 years, I am constantly fighting against my selfishness and my desire to put myself first. When I fight to keep my needs at the front, Mark is less likely to adore me. I need to put some stuff behind me. He likes me a whole lot better when I stop trying to be first and fight for my needs to be met over his.

However, these verses are about so much more than marriage. It is describing our relationship with Christ. When we come into a relationship with Jesus, we have to intentionally leave behind our past. We have to come into this new incredible marriage with our Savior, giving up all of us(our country) and letting Him be the Lord and King.

If we continue to put our desires first and not die to ourselves, He will still adore us, but we lose the whole point. We keep trying to bring our past country. We need to enter into the relationship bringing nothing because we have nothing to offer. Absolutely nothing! He adores us and He does everything.

When we need a reset button, as my sister calls it, we reset by dying to ourselves and letting Christ take over. We can't do anything to help ourselves. The enemy tells us we can by working harder. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we begin to walk back into wide open spaces. Today is the best day to quit trying to fix ourselves. We can't.

“If you do these things, your light will begin to shine like the light of dawn. Then your wounds will heal. Your “Goodness” will walk in front of you, and the Glory of the Lord will come following behind you.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58:8‬ ‭ERV‬‬