Have you ever screwed up?

Ever screwed up so bad you felt sympathy for the chuckleheads on that show, “World’s Dumbest (fill in the blank)?

Well, I didn’t USED to but things change, right?

I’ll spare you, and me, the humiliating details of my screw up but it got me thinking that perhaps, some of our screw ups are God’s way of teaching us lessons that we clearly wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

I am convinced, in fact, that in God’s sovereignty, He allows us to do and things happen that are outside our control but serve His will.

Romans 8;28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

I have always understood this to mean, all the bad things that ever happened or will ever happen, but specifically times when we have been wronged.

I believe it also includes times we are wrong.

It includes those times we put ourselves in a position to end up on an embarrassing television show and be used by God to further His ultimate plan.

I see it as a form of judgment. I mean, God is patient, merciful and kind but even His grace has an expiration date for the unrepentant.

Please don’t read that to mean there is ANY limit on God’s grace, but scripture says in 1 Peter 4:17, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (Emphasis mine)

There will be a judgment and it will start with the people of God.

I also believe that sometimes that “good” can come in the form of the previously mentioned “lesson” that God will use

I am reminded of the patience of the Lord and His willingness to give multiple chances to those that He does not want to see parish.

It reminds me of Jonah.

God tells Jonah to go and preach in Ninevah to the Assyrians – a bad group of folks.

Jonah loved the idea so much, he jumped right inside the nearest whale and sailed right there…actually, he boarded a ship headed the opposite direction.

Can you blame him? Those folks were notably an evil and cruel people. Let ‘em rot!

The sailors on the ship figured out something was off as their ship was getting ready to sink, determined it was Jonah’s fault and threw him overboard. Then he’s swallowed by a “big fish” and spit out right on the shores of, you guessed it…Ninevah.

But this post isn’t about obedience or Jonah…it’s about repentance and God’s patience.

When warned about the coming destruction, the people of Ninevah did the unthinkable, they repented.

The impact was so great, that Jesus used them as a warning to Pharisees when he spoke to them about their unbelief.

I bet they loved being compared to those people.

Of course, a generation after Jonah’s visit, the Assyrians still had to be dealt with and God judged them – but that is for another post…eventually.

The point is, when presented with their need to repent, they did.

Will you?

Will I?

You bet your britches I am and not just for the next generation. Well, I’ll be gone by then most likely but in the short term, best believe, I am A repenting!

The other point is that God is patient with us all.

Praise Him that HE is!

 The Assyrians had a long time to become the abomination they they’d turned into. Generations to become a large nation, capital city, wealthy, evil, sadistic, you know, the usual…but when told they had to change…again, THEY DID!

Same question…

Will you?

Will I?

Take a guess.

As I mentioned before, they eventually fell back into their old ways and when God had enough, passed judgement, as only he can and…Jesus still used them as an example of repentance!

All that to say, God is merciful and patient and will give you and I multiple opportunities to get our act together – but at some point, he will take action.

We better change for good, before, He acts, for our good.

What are your thoughts on God’s patience, our (and other’s) repentance? Or anything else you’d like to mention. The stage is yours.