Hit the Restore Button

I have an interesting program on my computer.  When I make a mistake and really foul things up, or a load a new program and it starts to cause problems, I can run a “Restore” program, and it will let me go back to just before the problem occurred and start all over again. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if life was like that?  Make a mistake, hit the restore button, and you were right back to square one. 

Not long ago, I spoke to a young man who was facing a life sentence for committing a horrible crime against another person.  He made the statement that if he had the opportunity to do things over again, he would not make the same mistake, and the wrong decision, that he had made.  I have never, with only a few exceptions, spoken to a person in prison who did not say, “I wish I could do things all over again.  I just wish I had another chance”.

When I look back on my life, there are many times where I wish I could go back and change things. Maybe something I said that hurt someone or maybe something I did that caused hurt and pain to another individual.  I think about the direction my life has taken and I wonder about where I would be if I had made different decisions along the way.

King David didn’t make a lot of mistakes in his life, but when he did, boy he did it right.  Most everyone remembers the story of him looking out his window and seeing a good looking young woman while she was bathing.  Being the red-blooded Jewish boy that he was, he wanted her for his own.  Only one problem.  She was already married to a soldier in King David’s army.  But, since he was the king, and her husband was away fighting a battle, he invited her over for a few drinks and supper.  The next thing you know, this little gal was with child, and the child was David’s.

David tried to trick the soldier into coming home on furlough, hoping that he would spend time with his wife, so they could blame the pregnancy on him.   When that ploy didn’t work, David had the soldier placed on the front lines of battle and he was killed. Problem solved.  Bathsheba moved in with David and became his wife.

As with any decision we make, there were consequences for David and Bathsheba.  The child died shortly after birth.  And then to make matters worse, David’s friend Nathan came to David and pointed out his sin.

Right then and there, David realized the mistake he had made, and knew he had violated not only man’s law, but more importantly, God’s law.  Boy, talk about a time to his the “Restore” Button.  But you know what David did?  He knew that God has had a restore button long before Microsoft© came up with that feature. Psalms records David’s repentance (change of direction) and turned to God for forgiveness. His words of repentance are recorded in Psalms 51.  “12.  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.  13.  Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

God forgave David and David became a person who the Bible described as being “after Gods own heart”.

That promise is not just to David.  The Bible promises us that when we have made those decisions that have broken God’s Law, and we all do this, He has a way for us to restore our relationship with Him and start all over again with a clean slate.

Ephesians the second chapter tells us that God, through Jesus, has broken down the wall that separated us from Him so that “he might reconcile both (believers and non-believers) unto God in one body by the cross…”.

Although we all mess up at times, and make decisions that are not good for us in our relationship with God, we can hit that restore button call Jesus and start anew.  If you have reached that point in your life where you need to make a fresh start, give Jesus a try.

In the Wind

Double D