Psalm 30:2-3 in The Message version, says, “God, my God, I yelled for help and you put me together. God, you pulled me out of the grave, gave me another chance at life when I was down-and-out.”
King David was a guy who appreciated second chances. Like us, he often made a mess of things, and was relieved when God helped him, perhaps even dragged him out of a pit of despair and gave him another chance. So, how did a man who kept falling down in matters of life still become known as a “man after God’s own heart?” He did it the same way you and I can do it. He did it by admitting his stubbornness and his failures. He turned toward God and called, no yelled out, for God to rescue him. He didn’t stand in front of God with a list of reasons why he failed, or with excuses that he hoped would make God happy, he simply surrendered. He knew he was wrong, and he was willing to admit it so he could move on. It doesn’t mean that God didn’t let him learn things by suffering the consequences, but it did mean that God never gave up on him. After all, they had developed a relationship that required honesty.
. When David failed, he remembered God’s great love and turned back to Him every time.
Getting a second chance, or a seventy-second chance is what humans need. We can’t forgive ourselves without God’s help. We can’t move on from past foolishness, without the One who gives us a chance to do better. We struggle with giving someone else another chance, until we realize our own failings. When you take another chance, you can grow and change and become more of what God designed you to be. Give your spouse a second chance because love always has to come with forgiveness. Give every child of God a second chance because that is what your Father in heaven does for you.
You may be amazed at what God can do through you when you turn back to Him and ask His help to do better next time. You are His handiwork, His treasure, and every time you seek His forgiveness and His mercy, He will be there, ready to pull you out of the mess and set you on the solid ground of new possibilities.
Yup! You get a second chance right now.