“God Can Push The Restart Button!”
Psalm 130:1-8
David P. Nolte
Thanksgiving is a combination of reviewing the past to recount all the benefits and blessings bestowed from above, appreciation of His present providence, and looking forward to what He has promised.
There are times, however, when we don’t feel very blessed nor do we feel thankful! Our thanker freezes up. Sometimes our computer freezes up, too, and requires a restart. And in case your thanker is frozen, let’s hit the restart button.
Someone, I don’t know who, wrote, “Waking up to a beautiful sunrise is so promising. The air is quiet. Birds are beginning to stir in their nests. The moon is fading away as the sun’s rays quietly take over the sky. It’s as if God hit the restart button and we are powering up for a new day, a new beginning. Our batteries are charged, the things of yesterday are gone, and God is unveiling a chance to start anew. Today is a blank page in a journal— crisp, clean, and ready for a beautiful story to unfold. Every day, we have the chance to be more patient, more forgiving, more kind, more understanding, and more generous. We can right our wrongs, learn from yesterday’s mistakes, listen more, argue less, put down our phones, look at our family, and start over. We will still make mistakes; we won’t have everything together or come close to perfection, but God gives us grace, again and again, until we are finally made new.” (from 100 Days Of Praise). Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up every day with this renewed, refreshing, “restarted” attitude?
The Psalmist wrote, “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD; Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning-- Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption. And He shall redeem Israel From all his iniquities.” Psalm 130:1-8 (NKJV).
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He is in a pit but counts on the Lord and eagerly desires the dawning of another day but he waits for it with confidence. A new day is coming. God is always ready to push the restart button – by forgiving us and wiping the slate clean. When you are in the pit of failure and sin:
I. GIVE THANKS FOR FORGIVENESS THAT MERCY BRINGS:
A. “For with the LORD there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption.” Because of mercy there is forgiveness!
1. Mercy is not getting the punishment or condemnation we deserve.
2. Mercy is restraint from revenge.
3. Mercy is releasing the prisoner from his well deserved sentence.
B. “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.”
1. Forgiveness is not ignoring or overlooking, or condoning, or making light of sin.
2. Forgiveness is treating us as if we had done no wrong and giving up the right for revenge or punishment.
3. Forgiveness is welcoming the prodigal home not as a servant but as a full fledged son.
4. Forgiveness is not probation, it is pardon.
C. When God forgives here’s what happens:
1. “Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!” Micah 7:19 (NLT2).
2. “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” Psalm 103:12 (NLT2).
3. “Then he says, “‘I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.’” Hebrews 10:17 (NLT2).
4. “‘Come now, let’s settle this,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.’” Isaiah 1:18 (NLT2).
D. A woman was married to a lout of a man. He drank, he womanized, and he was abusive in every distinction. He especially ridiculed her Christian faith. One day after slapping her across the face, he sneered, “And how is your Jesus helping you right now?” She replied, quietly and gently, “He’s helping me love and forgive you.” That’s mercy – that’s forgiveness.
E. Forgiveness gives us hope! Hope of salvation; hope of another chance to do better; hope of acceptance at God’s Throne.
We should be thankful for that forgiveness that mercy brings, and then:
II. GIVE THANKS FOR HOPE THAT FORGIVENESS BRINGS:
A. “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope.”
B. Hope:
1. Is not:
a. Wishful thinking.
b. A toss of a coin into a wishing well.
2. Is:
a. Certain, assured, confident anticipation.
b. Relying on the unchanging word of an unchanging God.
c. Taking God’s promises at face value.
C. The hope that God gives
1. Does not disappoint us as does earthly “hope.”
2. Gives solid ground upon which to stand when the storms of life strike.
3. Is light at the end of the tunnel and we know it is not a train!
4. Enables us to try again when everyone and everything says it is useless.
5. Eliminates discouragement and depression. Trapped animals die when they lose hope. Marriages die when there seems to be no hope. People who might have survived, succumb when they lose hope.
D. I recall reading a book written by a former minister of the Hinson Memorial Baptist Church in Portland who went into a deep depression; so deep he needed hospitalization. He thought his world had ended. How could he continue to minister to others when he was so broken himself. None of the medicines or procedures seemed to work. Sitting by himself one day, he was approached by a janitor who said with confidence, “You are going to get better.” “Get better?” None of the doctors or other medical staff ever told him that. “Get better? There is hope?” And from that moment he did get better and eventually fully recovered.
E. Hope had done what medicine couldn’t. Hope is still the healer of our souls, the dispeller of darkness and the linchpin of our faith. “This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.” Hebrews 6:19 (NLT2)
We should give thanks for forgiveness that mercy brings, give thanks for hope that forgiveness brings and, finally, we should:
III. GIVE THANKS FOR A NEW START THAT HOPE BRINGS:
A. “O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption.” To be redeemed results in being freed from bondage to sin and failure of the past and to enjoy the benefits of a new start.
B. In reality there is no “undo” button that makes the things we have done to be undone.
1. We can’t un-cuss somebody.
2. We can’t un-cheat in business or marriage.
3. We can’t un-sin our done deeds.
C. But with God
1. There is a “restart” button.
2. There is a clean slate.
3. There is always a new beginning.
4. It’s like a first grader who ruined his sheet of paper and timidly walked up to the teacher’s desk and showed her the rip. She smiled at him, gave another sheet of paper and said, “Do better now, child.”
D. This is certainly not a license to sin but it is liberty to begin again!
1. Paul said, “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” Romans 6:1-4 (NLT2).
2. Peter said: “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT2).
3. So because He does have mercy and does forgive, we can know that each day, as Jeremiah wrote while in captivity, “Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!’” Lamentations 3:20-24 (NLT2).
E. Let me show the meaning of getting a restart. On New Year's Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played University of California in the Rose Bowl. A player named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for California. Somehow, he became confused and started running in the wrong direction. One of his teammates, downed him just before he crossed the goal line. When California attempted to punt, Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety.
That all came in the first half, and the men went into the dressing room. They sat down on the benches and on the floor, all but Riegels. He put his blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, put his face in his hands, and cried like a baby.
Coach Price was quiet. Then the timekeeper came in and announced that there were three minutes before playing time. Coach Price looked at the team and said simply, "Men the same team that played the first half will start the second." The players got up and started out, all but Riegels. He did not budge. The coach looked back and called to him again; still he didn't move. Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, "Roy, didn't you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second." Then Roy Riegels looked up and said, "Coach, I can't do it to save my life. I've ruined you, I've ruined the University of California, I've ruined myself. I couldn't face that crowd in the stadium to save my life." Then Coach Price reached out and put his hand on Riegels's shoulder and said to him: "Roy, get up and go on back; the game is only half over." And Roy Riegels went back played that second half with new energy and aggressiveness.
Like that coach, God speaks to each of us in our failures and discouragement, calling us by name and saying, “Get up and go on, the game is only half over.” You are still on the team! You are still in the game and the game is not over! God has pushed the restart button.
He gave the adulterous woman a restart; He gave the demonic Mary Magdalene a restart; He gave Peter the denier a restart; He gave Paul the persecutor a restart – He will do it for you, too! PRAYER [“GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!”]
