I’m surrounded by the beauty of His majesty. Nature is singing me a symphony in the cool of the morning. This moment, by all external factors is perfect…so why am I discontent?
The external beauty is not enough to overcome the internal turmoil. This morning, I am full of regret. I am thinking of decisions I made long ago. (They were not sinful by any means, just choices that I would make differently if I had today’s knowledge.) I want to go back and relive.
Am I the only one who wished life was like a math problem? Does anyone else wish you can go back to your mistake, erase, and start again?
As I sit here, stewing in my regret, the Lord reminds me of this simple fact: “I am your redeemer and restorer.”
I can’t go back. I can’t erase. But this is what I can do:
1. Repent. Wait a minute, I thought you said it was not a sin. Repent just means to rethink. We can rethink our choices. We can admit we were wrong. I was wrong and I repent.
2. Expect Redemption. I have shouted from the rooftop, there is no one beyond God’s redemption. This morning, He is reminding me that no decision I made is beyond His redemption. If He can redeem the vilest of sinners, surely He can redeem a decision His daughter made in ignorance.
3. Ask for Restoration. He has promised to restore the years the locust have eaten. He has done it before, He will do it again.
Are you living in regret this morning? Maybe, as a mom, you regret the choices you made raising your children; maybe you have made bad financial choices; maybe you have made bad career choices; maybe you are regretting a sin. Whatever it is, believe with me this morning, God can redeem and restore. Trust Him.
Pray with me:
“Lord, my redeemer. I repent. I was wrong. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for convicting me of righteousness.
“Lord, I will not fear. I will not live in regret, for You are my redeemer. You have called me by name. When I go through the water, they will not overflow. When I go through the fire, I will not be burned. You will bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth.
“You are the Lord, my redeemer. You reverse my bad choices. I shall not be held captive by my former mistakes nor consider things of old. Because you are doing a new thing. You are making roads in the wilderness and rivers in the dessert. For You blot out my mistakes and remember them no more.
“You have promised to restore. Be zealous on my behalf and restore the barren years created by my lack of wisdom. Restore finances, restore minds, restore relationships, restore hearts. Oh Lord, my Restorer, bring wholeness.
“Thank you Lord. I do not live in regret but hope. I will see your redemption and your restoration in the land of the living. Amen.”
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“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:1, 19 NKJV
““So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.”
Joel 2:25 NKJV