Second Chance

Exodus 6:9-10 “So Moses told the people what the Lord had said, but they wouldn’t listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the increase burden of their slavery. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go back to Pharaoh, and tell him to let the people of Israel leave Egypt.’”

Moses was discouraged because what he was doing wasn’t working. He had tried to talk with Pharaoh and with the people of Israel but no one would listen to him. He felt like what he was doing wasn’t working but God gave him another chance. In fact, Moses had to repeat his actions over and over before any good was done.

We don’t always realize it, but we do get second chances. In many situations, we get third, fourth and fifth chances. God gives us another chance. We can look for opportunities to start over when things don’t seem to be going right. There is really no excuse to give up because we always have an opportunity to persist so that we can make a difference.

There are many stories in the Bible where God allowed people a second chance. They messed up continuously and took the wrong roads, but God allowed them to get back on the right path. They made bad choices about things and gave in to the things of the world, but God gave them a second chance. We make mistakes and try to do things on our own, but God allows us to come back to Him anytime.

We, like Moses, may have tried something and feel like we really didn’t reach or help anyone, but we shouldn’t give up. We should try again with another group or change the way we did it, but we shouldn’t think that we had the wrong message if God was working with us. We may have had the wrong timing or people or we may have made a difference but just didn’t see Gods’ results yet.

Continuing to work in an area where we feel all is hopeless may get frustrating. We shouldn’t give up on that situation, but continue to seek God and His will. We can make sure God is involved in all that we do and ask Him what we need to change. We may have to repeat the same thing over and over until things begin to change.

In relationships, when things are not going right, we have the option to ask for forgiveness and start over. With our finances, we may feel like we are doomed to be in debt, but God can help us start over. Our health may be keeping us from doing what we want, but God can give us the strength we need. In our career, we may feel like we are in a dead end job, but God can help us find meaning.

When we are working toward God’s purpose and we get off track or we feel like things aren’t going as they should, we have that option to start over. We can start over with our relationship with God first making sure that we are doing His will and reading His word. Our conversations with Him should be regular and He will provide us the answer we need to start over again. He will give us the direction we need. He will give us that second chance so we can make a difference for Him and help others.