“Oh, if I could just go back, start over again!” But time rolls on. Are there no second chances? Satan says no, and breathes his deadening chill into the soul that is open to his lies. Defeated ones lament, “Restore us to yourself, O Lord, renew our days as of old” (Lam 5:21). “Lord I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (Hab 3:2). But will He? Can He reverse time and restore what we have wasted? He can and does!

He promises, “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will…run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint” (Isa 40:31). After adultery and murder, David can humbly pray, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps 51:10). And Paul, “the chief of sinners”says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16). God’s grace turns murderers into great kings and apostles! Certainly He can help you! He helped Naomi when all she had was poverty and sorrow. God gave her life back to her. “The women said to Naomi: ‘Praise be to the Lord…He will renew your life and sustain you in old age” (Ruth 4:14).

God’s mercy allows for renewal. “When you send your Spirit they are created, and you renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104:30). What He does every Spring in nature, He does in the springtime of our lives when we are born again. “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but… through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Have you been born again? Turn from sin to Christ by faith and be renewed!

The Christian, by faith, has “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col 3:10). God is removing the habits of sin and replacing lies with true knowledge. He is teaching us that Christ is truth and life - the center of everything. “Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2). And however bleak it seems, dear Christian, believe like Job, “All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature you have made” (Job 14:14b-15). He loves you and has not forgotten you. Your day is coming.

“Jesus said… at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne…everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Matt 19:28-30).