What was the last time you looked at what you did and said, “You did what?! Mistakes are made with our everyday choices. Some choices lead to discipline and we suffer consequences. Yet, God is good and He forgives us. We read this in 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, in His faithfulness, He forgives.
Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise. Proverbs 19:20. NIV.
Have you ever run ahead of God? Oh, how I wish this was not true of me but it is. I have run a marathon and then asked God to bless my mess.
Sarai (Sarah) in the Old Testament is a perfect example. She struggles with infertility and decides that her maidservant could be a surrogate for her. She gives her maidservant to her husband Abram (Abraham). Read with me in Genesis 16
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. Genesis 16: 1-3. NIV.
All kinds of problems developed from this union.
Well after her youthful years, Sarai becomes pregnant. A miracle from God. God changes her and her husband’s name. The promised child is born. From a mess to a miracle. Abraham is promised to be a nation, as God fulfills His covenant with him.
What do I glean from this?
Today is a writing challenge, to write a letter to your younger self of a truth you would share.
Dear Younger Me,
You will make mistakes, you will do things that you wish were not true of you but in the end, you will make the right choices. You wish you would have listened to your mom’s advice, just as your children wish they had listened to your advice. But it is in the past, you only have the future.
Draw your strength from God. Walk-in his ways just as God told Abraham, “walk before me faithfully and be blameless.”
Remember you are loved with an everlasting love. Remember to read God’s word, claim His promises, and pray daily.
Remember you do not have to be fearful because God is with you.
Conclusion
We do make mistakes, but God in his love gives us a promise in Romans 8:28. We are God’s covenant with Abraham.
Father God, I embrace Your truth today and I thank You that you forgive me when I run ahead of you. I pray for all who read this that they will embrace Your truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
What do you need to forgive yourself for? Which truth do you want to embrace?
