Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
We all face regrets in life. For each person they vary, perhaps it is something that we did or said or even something that we didn’t say. Try as we might there is nothing that we can do to go back in time and change that. On my shelf is a camera that doesn’t seem like much- in a lot of ways it is common- but it means a lot to me. When my father and mother had to go into a nursing home I was tasked with dealing with their house. When you face these situations there are always things that you greatly regret selling. For me it was Dad’s cameras, I saved all of his slides but I let the camera’s go in the auction. For several years I regretted that until one day I was looking on Ebay. Much to my surprise there was a camera from the city which he lived. I e-mailed the seller to find out that he had bought it in an antique mall there in town a couple of years ago. When I looked at the photo- I recognized a spot on the case where part had came off in my hand. A week later I had the camera and when I unwrapped it, I could smell the distinct scent of my Dad’s den. Now it means even more to me as not only was it my Dad’s God gave it back to me.
When Joel penned the words above he wrote them to a nation that had lost much because of sin. They had been devastated and certainly they regretted it. O how these verses can help us today with regret. When all of this happened I could not get that verse out of my heart. There are so many could haves in our life and we all live with them but only God can heal them. I have heard many people say “God can’t save me, you don’t know what I’ve done.” Others so live with regret that they don’t darken the door to church. Some even fence themselves into their house and their memories and do not come out. There is one who can heal the regrets of life though and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in the Book of Matthew
11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Friend are you struggling with the burden of regret today? There is only one that can help and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. If today you are struggling with sin he is the Savior. Please would you ask him to save you today- you can find out more on the salvation page that shows you from the Bible how to be saved. If you are struggling with regret today we want to be a help to you as a church and pastor. Please feel free to contact me.
Pastor Jim