Moving Past Regret

The sting of regret can paralyze us from walking out of the past and into a bright future.

Regret is a deep disappointment as a result of something we shouldn't have done or said which brought a lot of pain to ourselves and others. Recrimination is the sister of regret. We punish ourselves by negative self talk or refuse to take risks that will lead us to a place of healing and freedom. Why try when all we do is fail?

Only God can break through our circular thoughts of failure and shame. He knows how to untie the many knots in our thinking that prevents us from seeing things clearly and accurately.

God gives a promise to quiet those condemning thoughts. Zephaniah 3:17 says, "The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing." (NIV).

The Lord wants to remind those who struggle with regret that you are no less loved because of some grievous failure. Failure or success never measures the love of God toward us. Rather His love frees our heart from the stronghold of guilt and shame. God's love gives us the confidence to trust Him because we can't put any confidence in ourselves to do what is right.

Beloved, we have to pray for understanding. We know so little and often what we do know is not from God's point of view. Regret can misshapen our minds to become narrow and closed. God has to take us to the heights of Mt. Pisgah like Moses to see the entire Promise Land. When we see things from His perspective the cyclic thoughts of regret lose their hold. When we see through the eyes of faith differently we will be believe differently.

Tell God what you regret. Don't hide or hold back anything from Him. Truth will bring light to dispel any darkness and truth will liberate the bound heart. And true to Romans 8:1-2 we are not a condemned people but the freest people because we are loved by God - regardless of our mistakes and bad choices.