Image from fbckenova.com
I give you all the credit, God - you got me out of that mess, you didn't let my foes gloat. God, my God, I yelled for help and you put me together. God, you pulled me out of the grave, gave me another chance at life when I was down-and-out. All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God! Thank him to his face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter. When things were going great I crowed, "I've got it made. I'm God's favorite. He made me king of the mountain." Then you looked the other way and I fell to pieces. I called out to you, God; I laid my case before you: "Can you sell me for a profit when I'm dead? auction me off at a cemetery yard sale? When I'm 'dust to dust' my songs and stories of you won't sell.So listen! and be kind! Help me out of this!" You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I'm about to burst with song; I can't keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can't thank you enough. (Psalm 30 The Message)
If on the freeway of life you miss the Perfection exit, get off on Second Chance.That the best comment I could think of on a devotional on second chances. I wrote, for I have missed that exit many a time, and I thank God for second chances. I also tried to think what I'm perfect at, and I could only think, "I'm pretty good at messing up!" And you might be too. That's what the psalmist was thinking as he wrote the ancient version of this psalm quoted above in a modern translation. We get into messes, God pulls us out. We yell for help, God answers us. We find ourselves near death either physically or spiritually, and God is there to pull us out of the grave; and God does grant us second chances, yes, even at life. I think back to the number of jobs I have had since high school, and all of those were for money; I won't list them for some people are still doing those jobs and are quite content to have a source of income, and I say, praise the Lord; but as I pondered my future, and by most of those jobs in later years such as high school and college, I already had my calling and I knew where I was going, but I still gave each job my all, and sometimes I did miss the perfection exit, but the very next exit was Second Chance.
In our relationships with spouses, parents, children, grandchildren, we also sometimes get off on Mess Up Lane, we drive along for a bit, get back on and see the Second Chance exit, which we should take. And yes, as believers we have sometimes gotten off on That's Enough or I Doubt That, but getting back on and heading on to Second Chance, we should take that. God is a God of Second Chances.
PRAYER: Lord, we don't know where we would be in we hadn't gotten a second chance from You; there have been so many times. But remind us of Your love, and pull us out of whatever mess we may have fallen into or created ourselves, and guide us safely towards Perfection in Love. This we pray in Christ Jesus, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
