Lamentations 3.22-23 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his
compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your
faithfulness. – Jeremiah, the priest
This past Friday afternoon I went up to our annual church
campout for our children’s ministry called, Royal Rangers. It was like pulling
teeth to get me to go because I am just not a camper (and happy is not in my
vocabulary when it comes to said activity). But, I do like our kids and so,
this year, I agreed to actually go, and camp, and paint a toothless smile on
my face in the process. It rained.
Camping is for a breed other than me. If I was forced to
flee to the mountains, I’d give me about a thousand to 1 chance of making it –
I don’t know much about camping, or survival, or any of that kind of stuff; I’d
quickly become a burden or a casualty. If there was coffee, I’d maybe last a
little longer.
But like most of what we do in America: it was for the
kids. And part of camp, as I am coming to realize, is having a camp speaker –
someone to teach, encourage, and motivate the troops. (And to remind us of what
fun we’re having.) And our Camp Speaker (devotional leader) spoke about the
Bible character: Ruth. And into the
story of Ruth, our speaker wove the concept: do-overs; getting to that place
in life where it has all fallen to crap and we have to come up with a new plan –
that’s a do-over.
You’ll have to read the story because time and space don’t
permit me to re-tell it, but suffice it to say, Ruth, a Moabite woman, and Naomi, her
Jewish mother-in-law, were in dire straits (kind of like me pretending to enjoy
camping). They had lost everything and now, somehow had to start over – they had
to do over. And God provides mightily
for Ruth, a foreigner in Israel, and her mom-in-law, a destitute Israeli widder-woman.
God loves do-overs. It's where we meet Him.
I thought, as the camp-speaker spoke, about the do-overs
in my life, past and present. And as Cathy and I were having our coffee this
morning I mentioned to her my thoughts and she said: “Paul, every day is a do-over with God.” I smiled; she was right.
So, today in my ‘quiet-time’ in the shower, I thought of
Lamentation 3.22-23, and I thought: The
steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His do-overs never come to an end. They
are new every morning – great is His faithfulness. It made the camping trip
come to life a bit more than it had been yesterday in the wind, the rain, and
yes, (in places) and the snow.
Do-overs are a gift from God who sees our degrees of
weakness and our pathetic attempts to re-do things on our own. God knows we
want to succeed but He knows we depend on ourselves to do it. The trick
with do-overs is to ask God for them and to follow Him into them. The steadfast
love of the Lord never ceases…
Father, thank You that You are the God of Do-Overs and
that You love and care for Your own. Thank You for helping me in the present
do-over, and Lord, wherever it leads: I’m trusting and believing in You, and glad You're in it with me. Amen.
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