4 It is not for kings, Lemuel –
it is not for kings to drink wine,
not for rulers to crave beer,
5 LEST THEY DRINK AND FORGET what has been decreed,
and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Proverbs 31
Proverbs 31 is chiefly known for the Epilogue to the Wife of Noble Character, which is a beautiful Scripture and should be used to encourage wives who often give up so much for the benefit of others. The early verses in the chapter focus on a mother’s advice to her son, the King (and perhaps others in authority). She advises her son was Not to Drink and thereby Forget Justice for the downtrodden. Leaders carry responsibilities that others don’t have and they must be careful not to allow anything to hinder those obligations. (As we judge, we too will be judged Matthew 7)
6 Let beer be for those who are perishing,
wine for those who are in anguish!
7 Let them drink and FORGET THEIR POVERTY
and remember their misery no more.
People may drink to Forget, a human coping mechanism. It doesn’t mean we should judge them for their weaknesses.
18 “FORGET THE FORMER THINGS;
DO NOT DWELL ON THE PAST.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43
In the previous two verses Isaiah the prophet has just spoken about how God opened a way for His people through the Red Sea and buried Pharaoh’s army in the middle of the Sea. Now he’s telling us to forget the past, God is doing a New Thing. That may be God’s Word for some of us right now, ‘Forget the past times and begin to look to our future’.
Graham Cooke had a saying that we should NOT LIVE ‘Past-Present, but we should be PRESENT-FUTURE’. We’ve lived through our past, but now we’re living in the present with our future still before us. We can lose out on blessings in the Present if we’re constantly thinking of the past.
10 Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’
For it is not wise to ask such questions. Ecclesiastes 7
Paul also tells us that he’s going forward with the Lord’s call for His life;
…but I PRESS ON to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: FORGETTING WHAT IS BEHIND AND STRAINING TOWARDS WHAT IS AHEAD, 14 I PRESS ON towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3
Paul uses the words ‘I Press On’ twice and ‘Straining’ is very graphic of his efforts to keep going in these verses.
While the Bible does tell us Not to Forget certain things that God has done, it does warn us in both the Old and New Testaments, not to be tied or stuck to the past. There may be things that we’re grateful for and that’s good but now, ‘The past has passed, let it Go!’
God bless and keep you today.