A BACKWARD GLANCE

“He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust. He may sometimes chasten us, it is true, but even this He does with a smile, the proud, tender smile of a Father who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is.”  - A.W. Tozer

The man who led my first backpacking trip more than fifty years ago started by asking a simple question. A group of about a dozen 13- to 16-year-old city boys assembled to head into the Oregon Cascades for a week of roughing it. He looked at us and asked, “What is the main reason people get lost in the woods?”

“That’s easy,” someone shouted, “because they don’t know where they are going.”

“That’s important,” he said. “But the main reason people get lost is because they don’t look back.” 

Profound advice for backpacking and for life. If we lose sight of the big landmarks of our past, it is easy to become disoriented and wander in the wrong direction.  

David knew a little about wandering off God’s pathway. He said, “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits – who forgives all your sins… .” (Psalm 103:2-3a)

David looked back and saw two landmarks that gave his life stability and direction. First, he saw his sin and rebellion. Second, he saw a loving and gracious God who’d washed it all away.

Don’t get lost in life’s confusion. Look back at what God has done for you and forget not all His benefits.  

Dan Bolin

President

Refueling in Flight Ministries