Every Day Offers us a Second Chance
Every Day Offers us a Second Chance
Now that the year is coming to an end, many
of us have a tendency to think back over the past 12 months and reflect
on the good times and the bad, our successes and failures, our personal
times of growth, and unfortunately our shortcomings or times of
personal failure. And as we do this we may even experience an array of
feeling and emotions; from a feeling of thanksgiving, and satisfaction,
to feelings of disappointment in our self knowing that we probably could
and should have done better. And today I want to address these feelings
of personal disappointment in our self.
If we are honest with our self, even the
best of us realize that somewhere along the line, we fail now and then
in our relationship to God. And I don’t know about you but this bothers
me more than anything else. And it’s probably not the best way to start a
New Year, all down and depressed.
If we are honest and have a humble spirit
you may even have a list of personal failures and you may be very
disappointed in yourself knowing that you should have done better as a
Christian. There seem to be so many ways for us to mess up. (List some
examples) Read Ephesians 4:17-5:5
Its one thing to think back over the year
and second guess things that you did at you job, in your business,
whether you should have bought something or not, whether you should have
spoke up about something or not. There may be a hundred other things we
did, or decisions we made over the past year that we now question, but
nothing pulls at the heart string of a Christian like knowing that he or
she failed our Lord in some way.
I am not sure where some of us got the
image of God being an old angry man with a long beard ready to zap us
from out of existence for each error we make, but it did not come from
the Bible.
If anything the Bible lets us know that our
God is one who will forgive those who are humble and repent. He took a
murderer by the name of Moses, and turned him into a great national and
spiritual leader. He took an adulterer and murderer like David, and used
him to write many of the Psalms to strengthen and encourage the people
of God. He took a woman who had been married and divorced five times and
was now living with a sixth man and turned her into the first
evangelist to go into Samaria. He took a guy who was determined to
eradicate and destroy His church and turned him into one of the greatest
evangelists and church builders of all time. He even took some of us, and turned our
whole life around compared to what we once were. Our God is a God who
will forgive humble ones who know that they have messed up and asked for
His forgiveness and favor.
Today I would like to read a story from the
Old Testament that shows just how forgiving and merciful our God can be
if we truly repent.
Read: 2 Chronicles 33:1-11
“Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. 2 He
did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of
the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt
the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected
altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the
starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the
Lord, of which the Lord had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem
forever.” 5 In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He
sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom,
practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums
and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his
anger.
7 He took the
image he had made and put it in God’s temple, of which God had said to
David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I
have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.
8 I will not again make the feet of the Israelites leave the
land I assigned to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do
everything I commanded them concerning all the laws, decrees and
regulations given through Moses.” 9 But Manasseh led Judah
and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the
nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 So
the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of
Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him
with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.”
Here in our reading, we read about King
Manasseh, who had the opportunity to be a great king and have the
greatest impact because he was the longest reigning king. He ruled for
55 years. His father had been a king who loved the Lord and did a lot in
leading the nation back to serving God.
But as soon as Manasseh got the
opportunity, he undid everything his father had spiritually tried to do
for the nation. Manasseh spent most of his 55 years doing evil in the
eyes of the Lord. He worshiped idols, tried talking to dead people
through witches and sorcerers, he sacrificed his sons as human offerings
to idols, he put to death innocent people who challenged what he was
doing.
The account of Manasseh in 2 Kings tells us
he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. Tradition tells us he had the
prophet Isaiah sawn in half.
Manasseh was full of pride. He did not have
to answer to anyone. He did not apologize to anyone for anything he
did. He could care less about God. But one day, God decided enough was
enough. God sent the King of Assyria to invade Jerusalem. Manasseh was
captured, and they put a hook in his nose and chains on his hands and
feet and led him away as though he was some wild animal.
This former king was thrown into some
Assyrian prison. All the riches and power of which he had boasted now
meant absolutely nothing. None of the many idols he had made and created
could do much to help him. His situation was hopeless, and he was
helpless. Talk about someone who messed up.
It was probably in the dark of the prison,
where Manasseh remembered, that the God of Israel, was a second chance
God. And now look at what happens in this story;
Read 33:12-17
“12 In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. 13 And
when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened
to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.
Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
14 Afterward he
rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in
the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate and encircling the
hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. He stationed military
commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.
15 He got rid of
the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as
well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem;
and he threw them out of the city. 16 Then he restored the
altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank
offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. 17 The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.”
This murderous, lying, abuser of people, finally humbled himself before our God and then prayed. There are a lot of people who do not
understand how big the heart of God is. Maybe even some of us actually
believe it’s possible, if we have done something so bad, God may not
love or forgive us. The encouraging news I have for you and me
today is that when this evil man humbled himself before God, God was
willing to forgive him and had a new plan for his Life, and likewise even
though you may have messed up some this year, if you have the right
heart God will forgive you put His plan to work in your life this up and
coming year.
Manasseh, whose life was a complete moral and spiritual disaster, got a second chance from a loving God who gives 2nd chances. And then he spent the rest of his life trying to lead his people back to God. There’s not a soul here who can go back
into the past and change what was said or what was done, but all of us
have the opportunity in God to make a positive difference in what takes
place from here on out. So what if you’ve blown it for the past year, or
two, or even for the past twenty years, or past 40 years. You don’t
have to end up a failure in God’s eyes or even your own. I know its hard to live a perfectly sinless
life. Even the strongest believer has weaknesses and occasionally
fails. Sin is a reality we must all face. It seems that no amount of faith or love
for Jesus can make us immune to failure or guarantee that we will not
sin. The apostle Paul understood and said it this way in Romans 7:21-25
“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but
I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against
the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work
within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
The only hope that we have is because of
grace and mercy Jesus our Lord is willing to show us. He will give even
the worst failures a 2nd chance., but we have to have the right attitude. John wrote in 1 John. 1:9
“If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Isn’t that what you want? I therefore
encourage you to take life one day at a time. And when your feel
tempted, seek God’s help. And if you do fail, learn from those people of
old, like David, and Manasseh, Samson, Paul and so many others. Humble
yourself before our Lord, leave the past in the past, trust in our
awesome God, and He will lift you up.