Sometimes the hardest thing to do is believe again.
When you’ve been disappointed enough times, you learn how to protect yourself. You stop getting excited. You stop expecting much.
You start questioning everything.
You tell yourself, “I’ve seen this before.”
“It probably won’t work out.”
“I’m not getting my hopes up this time.”
And before you know it, your past disappointments have become the lens through which you see your future. But here’s the challenge for October:
LAST TIME IS NOT THIS TIME.
Just because it didn’t happen before doesn’t mean it won’t happen now. Just because they failed you doesn’t mean everyone will. Just because that door closed doesn’t mean God isn’t opening another one. Just because you experienced disappointment doesn’t mean you have to live expecting disappointment.
You have to be careful not to let what happened to you determine what you believe God can do through you. The children of Israel had been through enough to become cynical. They had experienced bondage, disappointment, wilderness, and delay. Yet God still told them there was a promised land ahead.
Why?
Because God’s next move is not limited by your last experience. Isaiah 43:19 declares: “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?” Notice the question: “Shall ye not know it?” In other words, Will you recognize when I’m doing something different? That’s the challenge. Don’t let yesterday make you suspicious of tomorrow.
You can have wisdom without becoming cynical. You can remember what happened without living there. You can protect your heart without closing your heart. You can acknowledge the disappointment without surrendering your expectation.
Faith says, “I know what happened last time—but I also know who God is.” So this October, stop rehearsing the failure and start making room for the possibility. Maybe this time really will be different. Maybe the door will open. Maybe the relationship will be restored. Maybe the opportunity will finally come. Maybe God is about to do something you stopped believing was possible.
Don’t miss your new thing because you’re still recovering from your old thing. Last time taught you something. Last time strengthened you. Last time may have even hurt you. But last time does not get to write the script for this time.
This month, make a decision:
I will not be cynical about what God can still do.
I will not allow disappointment to destroy my expectation.
I will not let yesterday dictate tomorrow.
I will believe God again.
Because LAST TIME IS NOT THIS TIME. And if God is doing a new thing…I want to be ready for it.
