Where's The Rewind Button?
God doesn’t rewind he redeems. So much of life can be spent wishing we could go back for a do-over. Many people have such deep regrets they longingly wish they could turn back time and make a better choice or change an outcome. Don’t you wish that were possible? I sure do sometimes.
But sadly, we don’t have a time machine lying around to whisk us back to fix things…dang it. Thankfully we have a God who can still do something about our situations, he can redeem it. He’s in the redemption business. That may sound like a religious word we may not use much anymore but I can assure you it’s far more than a dusty religious relic. It’s the most powerful concept in God’s word.
What we would like to do is to simply rewind time. To go back…rewind means to wind back to the beginning, reverse to a previous event, or to return to an earlier time. Hello Doc Brown, I need to borrow your DeLorean! Unfortunately, time only runs forward, so we must always be looking forward.
When God created man, he gave him authority to rule this planet, Genesis 1:28a “So God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over it…” They gave that authority over to Satan when they sinned. God immediately set a plan in motion to gain back man’s authority and to redeem him back from the hands of the enemy through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Redeem means, to recover ownership of something by paying a specified amount, to set free by providing compensation, to restore the honor, worth or reputation of. Christs blood bought back our freedom, secured the payment due for our sin thus redeeming us back to himself. Redemption is a beautiful thing!
God redeems all things. He is able to take what seems lost, irreparable or damaged and use or make it turn in our favor for good. When situations go awry we often think, “How can this ever be made right again?” Things can look hopeless but God’s redemption can turn it completely around.
We had a serious situation with one of our sons when he was a teenager. He had made many bad choices which as a parent broke our hearts for him. We knew he had a call from God on his life and he was running in the opposite direction of that call. We’ve all been there at some point. God says go left and dang it if that right turn doesn’t look more appealing!
So as parents we did what every good parent does, we prayed our heads off. We had to trust God to turn it around for his good. After many heartbreaking years “suddenly” he gave his life to Jesus and began the journey to his calling. It’s funny how that suddenly seems to come out of nowhere, but the journey feels like an eternity in the moment. #selah
Since that day, God had taken every horrible thing he went through and has used it for his good. He took his bad choices, horrible decisions and their consequences, and forged him into who is currently is. He used the heartache and turned it into a testimony to help so many other people. Every testimony requires a test. His pain has become hope for others. Only Gods redemption can take pain and turn it into triumph!
I have personally experienced pain in the last 15 years beyond what I thought I could survive. At the time I was sure it would end me. Today I can say God has redeemed those hurts and bad decisions fully. I am a totally different person and am using what happened to bless and minister God’s healing to so many others across the country. At the time I couldn’t see how that was possible but now I can truthfully say, it was worth it all because of how God redeemed every heartache.
If you are struggling, feeling like you messed up or circumstances feel impossible to fix, know that God is fully capable of redeeming it. It’s as simple as asking him to move on your behalf, take what is broken and remake it into something new for your good. He’s the master rebuilder of lost opportunities and hope that has been deferred. He’s the mender of broken relationships, bad decisions and lost dreams.
Father I bring to you this pile of brokenness. I can’t fix it. I can’t go back and undo what I did or didn’t do or say. Only you can take the mess and redeem it for me. I’m asking you to forgive me for any part I may have played in creating this mess. I trust you to remake it and turn it for my good in the end. You are the master rebuilder, remake and restorer. Do what only you can do, open doors, create pathways through the sea of mistakes. Shut the mouths of the lions who roar against me, break the chains of bondage and bring life to the dead things. In Jesus name….