“I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.” Joel 2:25 NKJV
“Whether out of ignorance or by negligence, things occur that you regret.”
My thoughts today consider “if only.”
There are few things more haunting than thoughts of roads not traveled or opportunities not taken. It doesn’t take very long in life before you have an occasion to look back and wonder to yourself “if only . .” Maybe you are feeling that way right now. What would you have wanted to do differently? As has been often said, “You only get one chance to make a good first impression.” There are not a lot of times in life that you get a second opportunity to make a wrong right, to make a person your friend instead of enemy, to turn your failure into success, or explain what you meant to say instead of what you said.
I remember arriving at a college class very relaxed and wondering why everyone else was studying so diligently before class even started, until I asked why the noses buried in books and notes only to learn that a major exam was scheduled just minutes later. If only I had checked the class syllabus. If only I had been at the previous class. If only I had even attended enough classes that semester to have any idea what was going on.
By the way, I took the exam and made a high B, but failed the class because of too many unexcused absences. I pleaded with the professor for another chance and mercy was shown with an ‘Incomplete’ I did not deserve, and I had to make up the work the following semester. If only I had not been so irresponsible! That teacher helped me learn a valuable lesson that day. It is easier and so much better to do anything right the first time.
Everyone likely has mistakes they would like to undo – an innocence to recapture, a friendship to restore, a dream to recover, a blot on a resume to erase, a broken promise to fulfill, a wrong turn not to have taken. Sometimes such regrets occur out of ignorance, sometimes by your negligence, in things done or left undone.
But there is good news! God extends grace and redemption, and offers you a chance for restitution and restoration. Locusts would often come with devastation to an agrarian society in Bible history, devouring a year’s labor and destroying seed for future years. In the natural, those years were wasted and the damage apparently irreparable. But when hearts turned toward God, in mercy He extends His grace and promises, “I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten . . you shall have plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name o f the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.” Joel 2:25-26.
I remember my Dad reassuring me, “God will not let anyone besides yourself make a decision that He will allow to be for your harm ultimately.” I commend that to you as true. You will not always feel that way at the time, and it does not often happen immediately; but it will happen – not because of what you or someone else has done or not done – but because of who God is. See Romans 8:28-29 NIV. Leave the past in the past and walk bravely into God’s new day. Philippians 3:14 NKJV.
My prayer for you today is to not live looking over your shoulder with regret.