20 “Don’t be afraid,” Samuel reassured them. “You have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with all your heart, and don’t turn your back on him. 21 Don’t go back to worshiping worthless idols that cannot help or rescue you—they are totally useless! 22 The Lord will not abandon his people, because that would dishonor his great name. For it has pleased the Lord to make you his very own people. 1 Samuel 12:20-22 NLT
We mess up! I have messed up many times over and I know, that being human…you have also. That is a fact! You can deny it all you want, but whose yardstick are you going by?
How many dumb and crazy things have you done in your lifetime? How many mean and hateful things? How many people have you hurt willingly or unwillingly? How many things would you like to go back and be able to have a do-over? Many of us have lived with the mindset of hiding and running when we do things that are wrong.
Let us take Adam and Eve for a minute and toss in their son Cain also. They all messed up terribly and because of Adam and Eve’s sin we still suffer today because of sin. They had everything including being able to personally communicate with God and they blew it. Now, if you are thinking that if that were you that you wouldn’t mess up…think again. Three of the first 4 people on earth messed up. Cain killed his brother because he was jealous. Pretty messed up. God would have accepted him if he changed…but he murdered his own brother. People mess up and even though they know they should have listened to God…people don’t always do that.
Think about when you were a kid. You did something wrong and you knew you would be in trouble so you hid from your parents…and most likely lied about it as well. Just as a kid hides, lies, and blames others for what they did….they still try to rationalize their way out of the consequences.
Think about this: Whenever you messed up as a kid and did wrong did you run to your parents and confess it? Did you do that and ask for forgiveness? Why or why not? Most likely you just didn’t want to deal with it…and you sure didn’t want to face consequences for your actions or inactions.
Now, I look around society, and I am appalled at what kids do, but what everyone does or doesn’t do as well. Where are the real consequences for bad actions, violence, hate, living in sin, lying, stealing, cheating, being corrupt, rape, murder, and so on? In many places the victim is the one people blame, while the perpretrator is the one who might get arrested, but is out of jail in a few hours to go out and do their evil all over again. Kids are beating up other kids…and teachers. How disgusting. People robbing stores and they get away with it. What about the store owner and the people working…this should not happen to them. These people worked hard to have a business and society/and lousy left government is destroying our country and they get away with it…and all the while calling good people evil and right wrong. They blame the innocent and think it is okay to do the evil they are doing and people should just accept it. NO! How many alibis have you made or heard others make for their bad and evil behavior?
In Genesis 3. When Adam and Eve messed up and disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes became opened and they noticed that they were naked, so they tried covering themselves with leaves and when God came into the garden and called out to them, they hide and when He finally found them, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. It’s a vicious cycle. People blame others for their own bad choices in life and it began there in the garden with Adam and Eve. God had told Adam not to eat it…so he knew it was wrong. Yet…he did it by his own choice and then blamed his wife.
Okay…so you have messed up in life. We all have! Maybe differently but still messed up. I made choices that were wrong before and I sure can’t do a redo. I chose the wrong choice and I was wrong. You most likely have as well. But now you know. Know what? That we all mess up and there are consequences for our actions….but….we can go to God and if we are really sorry (not that we got caught..but that we are truly sorry) we can confess our sins, repent/turn from them, and we can change. It is a heart thing…not just words that matter. Some people say they are sorry and don’t mean one word they say.
So you messed up, it has already happened. What are you going to do about it now? Well, I believe that when we are truly sorry (not that we got caught) but that we did something we should not have done…that we take that to God and talk to Him about it. Yes, there might be consequences but it is better to deal with our problems now than later. We’ve got to go to God even if this may be the last place you want to go.
I understand that no one really wants to go to God and tell them that they really messed up, but it is the only true place to get help, to be forgiven, and to make things right with God It does not mean that people will forgive you and wish you well. We hurt people in this world and there are consequences for our actions. We don’t like that part. And, if we are a Christian, then most likely we know we have grieved our Father’s heart yet we know we must make things right with Him. If people won’t and don’t forgive us we most likely deserve that one in human means, but if God won’t forgive us that is another story. I need my Father in heaven and I want to please Him. I don’t want to ever again be separated from Him.
How many times in your life did you do something that you thought no one knew about it? The thing is you can’t con God, and you can’t hide even one thought from Him. He hears and sees everything and He knows your heart inside out.
I was thinking about how dumb, at times, I have been in my life when I lashed out and shouldn’t have, when I had a thought I wish I could drown now, And, how many times have we been upset at something really little and made a huge mountain range out of it? I have, and if there is nothing under the sun others have not been through…I think it is just possible that you have felt this also.
I have been very upset at things I see and hear on TV, on social media, and just going out somewhere. My spirit hurts when I see and hear things I know God hates/disapproves of that people take so lightly in their life. Can you watch anything in the news that somehow doesn’t have to bring race into it, abortions into it, lies into it, gays, transgenders, identity, and vulgur f-bombs and other words? Can you watch or see anyone that doesn’t want you to feel like you are someone bad because of the color of your skin or what maybe your great-grand parents might have done. Not you…not your parents…but prior? What someone else did or does not mean I did it…nor should I have to pay for another’s sins. Really, what can you watch, see, go to, and so on…that filth is not there, violence is not there, hatred is not there? If you don’t agree with this woke crap going on…they consider you the enemy, and if you believe, as I do in a wonderful and Amazing God…then somehow I became the enemy and they became the good guys. I don’t think so. My heart and soul is extremely upset at what the world has become, but God said it would get worse and worse before He came back for His bride/the church! So even if I am here on this earth until He takes me home prior, or I get to be part of that…I have to deal with life and what is going on in it.
Who we spend time with, where we go, what we watch, what we listen to, what we believe…matters! Who is planting into your life? Who is watering your life, and what will the harvest be, for you, in the way you are living and the things you are doing? Bad company truly does corrupt good character. A little drop of water will eventually fill a bucket.
We need to stop the enemy from attacking our brain. We need our brain to think clearly. The devil wants access to your brain and what you feed into it. The devil deceives and given one compartment of your brain he will feed it until it runs into another compartment.
Don’t fear the rebuke of the Holy Spirt. Listen to Him and do as He says. And by the way…the Holy Spirit will never, ever, ever, ever, tell you its okay to do something that God said was not okay to do. Listen carefully here…God, through the Holy Spirit, wants us to talk to Him, listen to Him, and do right even if everyone around us is doing wrong. Stop trying to turn to the ungods of this world. There is only one God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit….three in one called the Trinity. Love God and Serve Him!
When you do mess up, don’t run from God. Be real with God. There are so many sins out there that people do…but don’t run from God. Go to Him and tell Him what you did. Talk to Him. I don’t need to list all the 600 plus sins here…you know when you do something that God does not approve of. Ask God to work on you, in you, and to transform you and your heart. If you are sincere…really truthful and all…you will be surprised at how God works in you. He will open some doors, close some doors, cancel some relationships, and bring others into your life. You can trust Him.
Be real with God…please! I know there were many times in my life I sure must have disappointed my parents, and my kids must have disappointed me, but my parents didn’t kill me, and I didn’t kill my kids for messing up either. Why would we think God would want us to hurt over changing and doing right in our life. So what if God has to chastise us, give us a consequence for our actions…know that He loves us and is working on us. God will correct the mess out of us…if…we go to Him and ask Him to help us. He didn’t say He would wave a magic wand and make our situation go away, but He will walk through whatever with us. Our Father knows when we mess up, yet God is faithful to us and he wants us to come to him.
I pray that this has helped you a bit today. We all mess up and fall short. Let us run to God, get up, and change our life.
Now, may God bless you, draw you to Him, convict you of any sin in your life, may you deal with that sin and ask God to change you and help you. God is not there to destroy you…but to help you. Oh, He will allow you to go on without Him if that is your choice, but that is not what He wants for either you or I. He has done great things in my life that maybe you would not think were so great…but to me they are everything. Maybe you feel that way about your life as well. I don’t have to see or understand what God is doing, has done, or will do in your life if you give Him the chance to help you. I can only tell you what He says, and tell you that He has been here for me in times I would not wish on anyone and He got me through them. Maybe He bless you, keep you, and daily guide you.
God bless you!