Messed up!

Second Passover

God is a God of second chances.  For example, Peseach Sheni means “Second Passover.” One year after the Exodus, God instructed the people of Israel to celebrate Passover on the fourteenth-day of Nissan (springtime), to bring an offering, and to reenact the eating of the various foods as they had done the previous year, thus recalling their Exodus from Egypt.

However, there were those who had become ritually impure through contact with a dead body, and as a result, was unable to prepare the Passover offering that day.  So, they appealed to Moses for a solution. The result to their plea, God inaugurated a second chance to bring an offering and celebrate Passover the following month, on the fourteenth-day of Iyar, called Pesach Sheni or “Second Passover” (Numbers 9:1 – 14).

This day gave those who “messed up” a chance to repent (Heb. teshuvah), to return in obedience.

Jonah

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim the word of repentance.  Jonah purchased a ticket to sail, not to Nineveh, rather to flee from the presence of the LORD, heading towards Tarshish.  Apparently, he thought the LORD would not find him there.

As the records states, “The Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea” (Jonah 1:4).   Jonah fell asleep while the crew panicked.  Realizing this calamity was a result of Jonah’s disobedience they threw him overboard and a great fish swallowed him and eventually vomited the noncompliant man of God onto dry ground.

Then, “the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time” (3:1). There it is.  God is a God of second chances. Jonah, did repent and fulfilled his calling, though reluctantly.

The bible has many stories of second chances. The point is to remind us that when we are disobedient and “mess it up”, the sun will come up in the morning, and God will give us a second chance to be obedient to His calling upon our lives (Lamentations 3:20 – 24).

Points to Ponder

1. Second chances never run out – only time runs out.
2. Take notice of every moment in your life that God has given you a second chance. Then praise Him!
3. Don’t waste a second chance God gives you.
4. Your life is not so “messed up” that God can’t restore you, forgive you, and help you with a second chance. He is able. “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you’” (Isaiah 41:13).