4. Picking Up and Moving Forward 1

Isaiah 58:9b-11
9b“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
10 Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
11 The Lord will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.

I don’t know that I have ever known anyone who didn’t want to move forward from the past, but
often they don’t how. I believe that our passage for today gives us some clues on how to move
forward from our past. Prior to going through the clues let’s talk about the past for a moment.
Often when I talk about moving on from the past, people think that we are only speaking to those
individuals who are trying to overcome the brokenness of the past. While it can be hardships,
tragedies, and broken relationships that we must move on from, it is not necessarily the only
thing. It can also be the happiness of the past that has a hold on us. Our past glories, happiness
and good experiences can grip us to such a point that we are constantly focused on trying to
relive those moments.

To many of us try to pitch a tent and dwell in the Valley of the Shadow of death. NO! We will go
through dark valleys and shadows, but we are to move through them not build a house and live
there.

Now for today, we are going to look at the first verse of our passage.

Clue #1. Find freedom (9).
Most if not all of us have various yokes we live under. For many of us the yoke of overindulging
is part of why we belong to Fit.Church. So we have to remove the yoke from ourselves through
the power of Christ. But your yoke maybe something else, and only you and the Lord may know
what it is.

Clue #2. Don’t blame others (9).
Now this is where we don’t like to look at ourselves. When we are living under the yoke of the
past or even the yoke of our poor habits, we often respond by pointing fingers and talking about
things. We let it go and stop blaming others for our predicament.

Triple D: Our first two clues to moving forward are to remove the yoke, and to stop blaming by
pointing fingers and talking about it. Can you remember someone you admired who did exactly
what we are talking about by pointing fingers and talking about others? How did it make you
feel? Have you ever done this? Ask God to help you to not resort to such a waste of effort.