I Wish I Would Have
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Annual Gopher Run
I Wish I Would Have
I am not sure if this psychologically healthy, but I find that I am frequently reflecting on how I could done something better. It could be my interactions with friends and family, business decisions, career direction, spiritual walk, . . etc.
The result of this reflection often is "I wish I would have . . ."
Sometimes I say it with regret (a nagging feeling experienced when we look back on past decisions or actions and wish we had chosen differently.
The weight of regret can paralyze you. It is a form of un-forgiveness. . . of yourself.
We must master regret management because we are going to make mistakes. We need to bounce back up and move forward.
In scriptures, David made a chain of mortal mistakes which led two fatalities. Here is the set up. David had an affair with someone else's (Uriah) wife (Bathsheba). David impregnated Bathsheba. To cover the mistake, David put the Uriah on frontline to become an acceptable casualty, which in fact happened. David thought he literally got away with murder.
Nea, I say, nea!
In expository style, I will let the Bible pick it up from here . . .
2 Samuel 12:9-14
You have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. 10 From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.
“This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord by doing this, your child will die.”
2 Samuel 12Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord by doing this, your child will die.”After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife.David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused.Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?”When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
2 Samuel 12:13-19Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions,[b] and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.His advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.”David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child
- He acknowledged his mistake and did not deflect to someone else.
- He did not repeat the mistake. He did not commit adultery again.
- He tried to make for his mistake with fasting and laying before the LORD
- He moved on immediately after the child died. He did not beat himself.
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