Return to the LORD!

Elise Aleman
Introspection (Lam 3.40). 2020
Monoprint.

Have you messed up? Sometimes things happen that are out of our control but the things that really eat at us are those we know are of our own doing. Maybe we are painfully aware of the mistake or maybe it’s buried so deep we have forgotten our involvement. Perhaps it started as a small compromise or little white lie, maybe you turned left when we know we should have turned right. The list is endless. Then one day you wake up to a different reality than you expected to be in, and you wonder how you got there.

The real problem is that whatever sin was committed was not against your boss, spouse, friend, neighbor, or child. It was against the Lord. Josephs was aware of this when Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce him, he told her, “…How can I do such an evil thing? It is a sin against God.” Then he ran away from sin.  David, on the other hand, selfishly took Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, for himself. It wasn’t until Nathan confronted him that David realized his sin. Then he ran back to God.

Whatever situation you find yourself in, take time for honest reflection. Lamentation chapter 3 tells us to examine and search our ways and return to the Lord. Find that moment when things started to go wrong, repent and turn back to the Lord. Your situation may not resolve overnight or at all, after all some mistakes have consequences. But you’ll have the peace of mind of God’s forgiveness, and He’ll show you how to change course.

Prayer: Lord, I messed up and I need your help. Remove the blinders from my eyes so I may see where I turned away and sinned against You. Set my heart on track, back to You. Forgive me. In Jesus’s name, Amen.