When Your New Year Starts with Regret

Many of us are starting 2016 with the same resolutions we had in 2015. You wanted to lose weight in 2015, and here you are in 2016 with the same resolve, plus an extra 20 pounds…for example.

The sad news is that many of us are in the same boat. We just didn’t live up to our expectations last year. And as we make plans to move forward, we resent our starting place: How did I get here? How is this where I’m starting from? I wanted so much more for myself (my marriage, my family, my work, my finances, my job, my ministry, my health, my dreams…).

Way back in Deuteronomy (chapters 30-31)—after God had delivered His people (quite miraculously, recall the Exodus!) from all kinds of trouble, set them free, and was just about to usher them into their Promised Land: the place God had set aside as their inheritance—God sent a message through Moses. He explained that the people’s attitudes were shifting. It would only be a matter of time before, once all was well-and-good in the Land Flowing with Milk and Honey, they would forget about God. They would forsake Him, they would worship other Gods, and they would insist on their own way. God warned that only death and destruction could come of such a rebellion. But He instructed that if they would just stick with Him, then they would have life, abundance, and prosperity.

Even with that warning, what do you think the people did? They rebelled.

But God had made a promise: He vowed that if they would just turn back to Him, then no matter how far down the path of destruction they’d gone, no matter how scattered the people would become, He would gather and restore them again. He would go to the corners of the earth and the edges of the heavens to bring them back to their inheritance…If they would turn back to Him and ask.

And so, many years later, when their rebellion turned to turmoil, and the people were scattered, and their city was ruined, and their temple was destroyed, a cupbearer called out to God and invoked the promise. And surely, God replied. And He gathered the people, helped them rebuild the city and the temple, and restored their inheritance. (Nehemiah 1)

So what does this mean for us?
​
First, no matter where you are starting from, God can restore you. Yes, even that…even you…can be brought back to fullness. Do you feel like it’s all your fault? Even if it is, God can restore. Do you feel like you are scattered into a thousand pieces? God can still restore you. Indeed, only God can restore you. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Acknowledge where you are.
2. Call out to God and talk to Him about how you got there.
3. Ask God to restore you.
4. And walk the path of life moving forward. In other words, you will have to choose the better way. God will show you the better way, but it’ll be your choice (just as it was for the people in Deuteronomy) to walk in it. You may have to lay a foundation and build some walls, but it will all be a part of the journey. And God will be with you.
5. Praise God for your restoration, forgiveness, and inheritance. 

---