To Live is Christ — leaning against the Father’s heart

Wishing I could go back forty years and change the way I did things makes me depressed. The past cannot be changed, but God isn’t into regrets either. I’m to learn from my ignorant mistakes, but must remember a timeless truth about God; He can do things that my wishing and regrets can never do.

Joel 2:25 contains a promise to Israel about the trials they experienced because of their failures to listen to God. He said to them, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. . . . My great army which I sent among you.”

This verse didn’t make sense to me until I looked up the Hebrew word for “restore.” It could be translated “give peace” as it is the same root word from which comes the Hebrew greeting, “Shalom.” Knowing that God can give peace is a giant step toward experiencing it. However, the verses that depress me (if I do not focus on the promises and power of God) are these:

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. (Deuteronomy 6:6–7)

My children are grown. They are not daily sitting or walking with me and no longer reside in my house. I cannot turn back the clock. However (and this is a big however), God has given me other children, His children, who are eager to learn the things of God. That is amazing, and for me a great joy.

Even so, this is different from teaching my own children. My heart still wishes I could be a new Christian again and know what I know now. Perhaps the Israelites felt like this too, after they realized their wanderings and attitude of heart had been passed on to the next generations. No doubt they felt regret and sorrow. Yet they also were given hope.

Besides peace about their losses, the Old Testament is full of promises for the next generation, for their “children and children’s children.” God says that He will bless them and bring them into the saving knowledge of Himself. He will preserve their offspring.

Although those promises are for Israel, they reveal how God cares, even when His people disobey Him. Because of Christ, He forgives and gives peace. His words to Israel reveal His heart, and knowing His heart gives me peace too. Those words also show me that He can change lives despite the failures of parents. He does not need my help. He says, 

For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass Like willows by the watercourses. One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; Another will call himself by the name of Jacob; Another will write with his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ And name himself by the name of Israel. (Isaiah 44:3–5)

My part is still prayer and obedience. Should I see evidence of thirst or barrenness in their lives, I’m not to panic or worry. Locusts have to chew up something before God restores it and God looks for that empty longing before He pours out His blessings.