HELD IN THE GRIP OF YESTERDAY

By Clinton White

Many years ago I read about a struggle between a man and a giant squid. The squid squirted its black ink and the sea around the diver became dark. He felt a strong, snake-like arm coil around his waist. In a supreme effort of strength, he wrenched himself free and tried to swim through the blinding darkness to freedom. But then, another powerful arm reached out and pulled him back . . . and another. He stabbed with a knife. He severed two of the arms and swam free again only to be pulled back by more long, coiling arms with suction grips.

Some of you reading this today identify with that man. For you, life has been like battling a squid in the darkness. Every time you seem to get free, something reaches out and grabs you, pulls you into bondage again. It is something behind you that drags you back. It is something behind you that keeps you in darkness. It is something behind you that pulls you down and keeps you under.

You understand what I mean. You are held in the grip of yesterday . . . struggling with the past . . . memories, fears, ugly guilt, grief. Just when you begin to see daylight, just when it looks like you might escape . . . a long arm reaches out of the past, usually in the form of a powerful thought, and wraps itself around you and pulls you back into darkness, back into despair, back into mental anguish, depression, despondency or fear. You are frustrated. You have given up hope of ever having a better life. The past, with its suction grip and many arms coiling and clinging like steel bands, holds you fast. You are a prisoner of the past.

That can have a devastating effect on the life of any man or woman. Sometimes it has such an effect on a person it creates sickness in the body. Psychiatrists and physicians know this now; Jesus knew it when He walked the earth almost two thousand years ago. Read the second chapter of Mark. This chapter opens with Jesus striding into Capernaum where He preached and prayed for the sick. Four men came to the edge of the crowd and shouted to the people, "Make way, let us through." They were carrying a stretcher. On that make-shift litter was a thin, feeble man trembling from head to foot. He was paralyzed. He had palsy. He couldn't lift up his head. He couldn't move his arms or legs. He was totally helpless, dependent on other people. His four friends could not force their way through the crowd to get into the house where Jesus was praying for the sick, so they carried him up to the roof.

Now, this sounds strange, but in the houses of that period and even there now they have steps leading up to the roof. They are flat roofs. After they had struggled to the top of the house, they uncovered some of the tiles and lowered the man down inside the house. And there at the feet of Jesus lay this trembling man, unable to move.

Jesus did not approach this man as He did some of the others. He did not lay His hands on this man and say, "You are healed." He did something which to those in the room with Him sounded very strange. He said, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." Many of those in the room wondered about this. "Why is He talking about sins, this man has a physical sickness?" They had no idea that many, many times sins and physical sickness are related. They knew nothing about the devastating effects of guilt on the body as well as the mind. They could only see that this man was paralyzed . . . paralyzed by a physical disease, but Jesus saw deeper than that. Jesus knew that this man was really paralyzed by his past. He was held in the grip of his yesterdays. When Jesus uttered those words, "Thy sins are forgiven thee," something wonderful happened inside that man. He was released from the power of his past.

What complex working is it that brings about strange changes in a man's body so that a guilty mind can generate sickness? I can't answer that question. Some of our best scientists of today cannot explain the dynamics of this very common occurrence. But it happens. Thousands and thousands are held in the grip of their yesterdays. Jesus came into the life of this palsied man and delivered him from his past. Jesus brought this man into the place of hope, the place of beautiful tomorrows, the place of abundant living today. The Bible says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever" (Heb. 13:8). He can do this very same thing in our time.

Some of you reading this now are held in the grip of your yesterdays. You are paralyzed by your past. Perhaps not literally physically paralyzed, but your life is rigidly fixed, frozen in a desolate state. You are unable to move out of fear . . . move out of despondency or anxiety or hopelessness. The Bible says, "He sent forth His word and healed them." Jesus Christ used His word to reach into the heart of that feeble, trembling man and set him free. His word delivers today. His word can deliver you. The word of God can cut off the strong arms that hold you in bondage to the past; it can smite the devastating grip of your yesterdays.

Some of you are walking through life trailing long heavy chains behind you, invisible to other men, but you know they are there. They are wrapped around your heart . . . heavy chains weighing you down link after link, forged in the past, forged in the fires of some sinful deed, some hateful act, some unclean moments. The mighty blacksmith called "guilt" came and made these deeds into a heavy, heavy chain. The first link was fashioned when you were very young, and the chain has grown so long. It has made your life so miserable. Wouldn't you like to be free from this great burden that anchors you to an unpleasant past?

I want to show you some people in the Bible. A woman . . . tears of joy are streaming down her face . . . she kisses the feet of Jesus. A few moments ago her heart was heavy. She was in a hopeless state. Life was dull and empty for her. But now, something has sprung alive inside. Life is glowing from her face. What happened to this woman . . . what brought about this transformation? She was delivered from the bondage of her yesterdays. She was set free by the power of pardon. She heard Jesus say, "Daughter, you are forgiven." She had soiled her past with many sins. She had ruined marriages. She had gone to bed with the husbands of other women. She had forged a long chain, but Jesus had set her free. He gave her a clean slate . . . a new life.

Just read through your New Testament. You will see young and old, men and women, people from all walks of life . . . thieves, killers, adulterers, blasphemers, those whose sins were pride, hate, prejudice, malicious conversation. See them when the chains fell off. See them when they walked into the open air, released from the dungeon of guilt. See them when they breathe freely of hope.

God can give you something to look forward to. He will release you from the power and pall of your yesterdays, which haunt your conscious and unconscious mind and rob your life of so much blessing. Just hear His word. Believe His word. He says to you, "My child, your sins are forgiven you." His word says, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:7-9).That is His word. You can take Him at His word. His word says He will remember your sins no more. That is His promise.

Then His word tells you in Philippians three to forget those things which are past and to press on to victorious tomorrows filled with hope because of His promise that you have eternal life and forgiveness. He forgives . . . He forgets and He says to you, "Forget." Walk away from your yesterdays. Stop talking about them in your prayers. Stop doubting His forgiveness. Stop dwelling on the morbid deeds of days gone by. From this very moment believe His word, accept His word, and praise Him for His goodness and His mercy because he has set you free.