When hearing the voice of God, because the Lord has access to all information ever spoken, written or yet to be written, He can pull things out of culture that we do not know. I have found He does this to create a hunger in us to seek it out.

Proverbs 25:2 says, “God conceals the revelation of his word in the hiding place of his glory. But the honor of kings is revealed by how they thoroughly search out the deeper meaning of all that God says.” I call it a treasure hunt, others have called it hide and seek, but no matter what it means to you, it is a pleasure to seek out what God is speaking out.

This morning I was reading Psalm 139:4-5 “You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past.” Immediately I hear the words, “Ghost of Christmas past.”

This phrase originates in a Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol, published in 1843. The Ghost of Christmas past is a spirit that visits Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is taken back to witness scenes from his earlier life, but he cannot interact with what he sees. He is only a witness. Pure shadow, no substance.

When I read in Psalm 139:5 “In kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past” the Lord was revealing that the past is a shadow not substance, it is an echo of history not a current reality. The Bible says, the glory of the Lord is our rear guard. He protects us from the witnesses, the ghosts, the echos of our past that seek to harm us.

What we have called an attack is a past witness seeking to harm us, so we are shadow boxing with fear, anxiety, doubt, memories, and the Lord is reminding us today, His kindness is following us to protect us from the ghosts of our past. It may be a witness but it is only a shadow of what was, it is not the substance of what is. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org