Have you read the book of Hosea lately?
Hosea is all about second chances. God instructs Hosea to marry an unworthy adulterous wife and to give her many second chances. His purpose was to show how Jesus would be sent to the people of Israel and how God would give them many second chances to accept his Messiah. If you want to see second chances in action, read Hosea.
Think of Abraham, that great man of faith. Even he needed second chances, because more than once his faith failed him and he lied about Sarah his wife in order to save his own neck. Yet God gave him a second chance and established his covenant with him.
Then there’s Jacob. He and his mother, Rebekah, were deceitful and Jacob lied to his father in order to get the blessing. Yet God salvaged Jacob and the covenant was passed on and continued through him.
David and Bathsheba committed adultery and David murdered Uriah. Yet through their lineage came Jesus Christ. God gave them a second chance.
The list goes on and on right up to today, because quite honestly, friends, all of us have to have second chances. Every one of us has blown it in some way or another, and if we didn’t have a God of second chances, we’d all be doomed. How many times have you asked God to forgive you for the same sin? Maybe you even wonder if he will forgive you again, but let me assure you, he will. He knows our frame and remembers that we are dust, and so he gives us many second chances.
That, of course, does not mean we will not have to suffer the consequences of our sin. Sin always brings its aftermath and God doesn’t deliver us from that. But he does deliver us from guilt and he does allow us to start over again with a clean slate—a second chance.
While we should never be pleased that we need a second chance, it is so wonderful to know that our God doesn’t give up on us. Remember that today. Trust God for the second chance that you need.
