Good Tuesday to ya friend! Welcome back to your place for insight and instruments! It's Tuesday's Musical Notes for October 15, 2019. Glad you could make it!
On this fall Tuesday, we look back to a song that suggests you should do just that. Were we not to look back, how would we remember such incredible music? If we didn't recall the past, how would we learn from our mistakes? If we failed to to recognize the good from previous years, how would we know what is better now? Would there even be a Tuesday's Musical Notes if we never were reminded of the incredible artistry contained in days gone by? If our memorialization of elapsed time...you get the idea. Let's move forward by looking back...at least with today's Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!
2 years after its debut album, Boston (132 weeks on the album charts, peaking at #3), the band released Don't Look Back, the sophomore album that did not slump. It seared record charts and sold over four million copies in its first month of release and solidified Boston as a band that set the standard for rock in the late '70s. For more on the band, check out (here we go looking back again...) previous Tuesday's Musical Notes: Tuesday's Musical Notes - "More Than a Feeling" and Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Peace of Mind"
"Don't Look Back" would be the last track written and recorded. It only became the title track after the band and Epic records discovered that ABBA had just released Arrival, the intended album title for Boston's second effort. Upon its release, it soared up the charts peaking at #4. Some critics opined that "Don't Look Back" was the strongest track on the record and could easily stand up to any of the tracks from Boston's debut release.
Looking back at television shows, you will on occasion here "Don't Look Back". From WKRP in Cincinnati to the WB/CW's Supernatural to (as one would imagine) That '70s Show, "Don't Look Back" has made its place in musical icon land. That status is also well supported by Classic Radio as the song continues to be in regular playlists.
But what of the lyric? Is it really true we should be constantly looking forward and rarely looking in the rearview mirror?
There are instances where reflection is a good thing. We learn from our mistakes and we modify plans based on our knowledge of our past. There however is one instance where looking back was a huge misstep.
A couple of weeks ago we covered how the promises of God will always be fulfilled. Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Promises" The first part of Genesis 18 affirms that promise that God had given to Abraham and begins laying the groundwork for the nation promised in chapter 15 with more specific details.
As Abraham did, we should be reminded that the only way to know God's promises is to listen to His words. Our way of being able to do that is through reading the Bible, God's Word to us, and for believers, listening and communing with Holy Spirit, God within us. The first half of Genesis 18 should provide us with great hope and confidence that God does what He says He will do.
In the back half of chapter 18, we find a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare (or Christopher Marlowe, but that's another musical note I suppose). God determines to let Abraham know of the impending destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. While the Bible only hints to this, and as God always does, He had given these folks opportunity after opportunity to change their ways but they continued down an evil path. It had gotten so bad, that God had decided to destroy the cities forever. If you can find it, the video series Drive Thru History has an excellent series on the Holy Land including a portion devoted to these destroyed cities and how they look today.
When God told Abraham about His plans, Abraham begged God to relinquish His plans as Lot, Abraham's nephew, lived there and would be caught up in the destruction. Bargaining between Abraham and God begins with the salvation of the cities being dependent on the number of righteous people God could find. Beginning at 50 righteous folks, Abraham and God negotiate. The arbitration continues as the numerical values decline. When there are not even 10 good people found in the land Abraham acquiesces to God's plan and goes home, leaving Lot's fate up to God.
Chapter 19 begins with Lot recognizing the angels of God and taking them into his home. The men of Sodom wanted to have relations with the angels and Lot refused to give them over. Lot even offered his own daughters to the men and they dismissed his suggestion. The angels determined to save Lot and his family and made a way of escape by blinding the riotous mob and providing safety to Lot, his wife, and daughters. The only instruction for their salvation, Don't Look Back.
You may know the remainder of the story, Lot's wife cannot overcome the temptation to watch the destruction of her previous home and in her disobedience, she pays the price. If you haven't read the focal passage today, scroll up and find the rest of the story.
Why did Lot's wife look back? The Bible does not record the answer to that question, but perhaps she was sad at leaving what she knew, even if it meant her salvation was guaranteed. Goodness, what a lesson for us today! One that may even look like this:
While we are unaware of God's discipline to others (I haven't heard of any recent salt statues around here have you?), we must be constantly attentive to God's leading. For those who don't have a relationship with Him, this means that Holy Spirit is confirming the Words of the Bible to you and perhaps even taking you in the pathway of a Christian friend to show you what God's redemption and forgiveness can mean. Your acceptance or repulsion of God's healing determines the ramifications for your life. For believers, daily transformation awaits those who do what God has instructed. Discipline is waiting for those who do not. Job 3:17 NASB/The Message/KJV, Proverbs 3:12 NASB/The Message/KJV, 1 Corinthians 11:32 NASB/The Message/KJV
While looking back can be a good exercise, it should never be a continual practice. God has far too much planned for your life beginning with life in eternity future in His presence. Or as Tom Scholz, Boston's lead singer put it:
Don't look back
A new day is breakin'
It's been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind where I get taken
The road is callin'
Today is the day
A new day is breakin'
It's been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind where I get taken
The road is callin'
Today is the day
I can see
It took so long to realize
I'm much too strong
Not to compromise
Now I see what I am is holding me down
I'll turn it around
It took so long to realize
I'm much too strong
Not to compromise
Now I see what I am is holding me down
I'll turn it around
I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
It's a new horizon and I'm awakin' now
Oh I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shinin'
The clouds are breakin'
Cause I can't lose now, there's no game to play
Oh I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shinin'
The clouds are breakin'
Cause I can't lose now, there's no game to play
I can tell
There's no more time left to criticize
I've seen what I could not recognize
Everything in my life was leading me on
But I can be strong
There's no more time left to criticize
I've seen what I could not recognize
Everything in my life was leading me on
But I can be strong
I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
Could someone pass the salt?
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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