History #1: Learning from the past

We are currently living in tough times of uncertainty due to the coronavirus, which is causing great trouble in the world. No matter what we see or hear, bad news leads to discouragement, and discouragement leads to despair, but we don't have to be like the rest of the world. There is always hope! I have always thought that history should be a subject as important as math or English, however, most people don't bother to think about the impact that history has had on other generations. In a 1948 speech to the House of Commons, Winston Churchill said, "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

We live in the midst of a generation that was taught you can be your own god and invent your world according to what you want, but this is false. When we get to the point of caring only about our own self and forget others, or when we think that nothing else matters other than our own wants, or when we ignore that this is the tendency of human nature since the beginning of time, we fail and lead others to failure.

Long before Winston Churchill made such an important statement, Solomon said something even more impacting.

9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new?” It has been already, in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen among those who come after.

Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

Most people don't know the Bible. Most people don't know that this bold statement is actually coming from the Word of God. Most people ignore what God has said, and therefore, most people fail. The Bible should the most important subject in any school because it not only contains history, but most importantly, it contains the wisdom that will lead us on the right path and will prevent us from failing as others have.

The passage above states that there is nothing new. What was in the past is the same as what will be in the future, and what we live in the present already occurred somehow. Between 1914-1917, the world experienced lots of changes during World War I. It is said that 37 million people died. Communism took over Russia in 1917, and soon after the Spanish Flu killed just as many people as the war had killed. In spite of everything, history continued and people still live the same way as before those times forgetting God, forgetting their Creator. A man called Moses lived 120 years. This man lived to experience some of the greatest things that a human being can experience. He saw how God delivered an entire nation from slavery, but he also witnessed the peak of the sins of ingratitude and rebellion. He experienced prosperity and poverty, and he lived in power, but he also experienced exile. Moses learned from history, but mostly, he learned from God himself. This is why he declared:

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." Psalm 90:1

Moses made a choice. He learned to make God his #1 priority, and this is why he succeeded in this life and in eternity. He believed Him and followed Him.

No matter how hard things get, we can always know that nothing is out of control. There is a God, and He is in control, so everything will be ok. The most important lesson we learn from the past is that those who trust that God is in control will succeed, and those that don't will fail.