Overcoming Regret

Overcoming regret hinges on a simple but powerful conjunct adverb: yet.

Israel sinned in rejecting the Lord as their King. They wanted men to rule over them like other nations and fight their battles (I Samuel 8:7). After the king was appointed, Samuel encourages the people by saying, "Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet [emphasis mine] turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;" (I Samuel 12:20).

The sin of crowning a king was done yet to follow after God was a choice still open. A choice that matters when overcoming regret.

How many times have you fallen in the same sin? You make promises and vows never to do it again. But you find yourself flat on your face wondering how did I get here, again? You may understand intellectually God has forgiven and forgotten your sins but somehow your heart is captured by regret. Perhaps the consequences only remind you of the foolish mistakes you regrettably made and undoing the mess is not an option.

Yet.

Yet right now you can call out to God for help. His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). In other words, fresh mercy each day acts as a reset button. Yesterday is gone yet today His fresh mercy helps us to follow after Him regardless to our present condition or state of mind.

Years ago I went through a very dark period in my life with a health crisis and possible job loss when one day God drew a line. You can worship me and live or stay in a place of regret and self-pity and die. One afternoon with great weakness and a stubborn attitude I went to my knees. I raised my hands in surrender. "Thank you for this life You have given me. Thank you for the pain You have brought so in my affliction I will not go astray but keep Your Word." A thin thread of light pierced the darkness in my soul. My eyes were open to His love I've not known until that moment. Consequences remained yet worship flowed freely with supernatural grace. I stood to my feet and stepped toward Him. And so began a supernatural shift from the not yet moment that was presently clouded by painful regrets to see what goodness and mercy He had in store in the days ahead.

Beloved, we can not remain in a place of regret. A place that will keep us on the edge of the Promise Land which is ours to possess but we are paralyzed by regret. God will not live there with us in regret. He moves on and so we must go with Him! We must through His power press into Him with that single word on our lips. Hosea understood this in his time when the nation was far from God. He writes, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet [emphasis mine] I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:18, KJV).

Worship will always cause our eyes to be fixed on Him rather than on our poor circumstances which can binds us to regret.

Finally, we have this promise that helps us overcome regret because we are changing and becoming more like Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet [emphasis mine] appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (I John 3:2, KJV).