I don’t think I have to tell you that Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year for
absolutely everybody,
and not just in 2020.
It can be hard any year,
and it is for so many. And one of the many reasons it’s hard for so many is because of
regrets that they carry around.
Holidays are supposed to be kind of perfect.
That’s often our expectation, or at least close to it. They’re supposed to be happy, and full of togetherness, and
relationships are supposed to be good, and
everybody's supposed to be loving and kind and patient and nothing getting in the way of all those things.
But that doesn’t always happen.
it can kind of hurt during the holidays when it doesn’t happen,
and especially if something was done in the past
that caused things to be difficult in the present.
The person who did those things can live with a lot of regret
because it’s their fault
that things aren’t good in the present.
And then, even if nothing bad was done in the past but
there’s someone special that you used to be able to celebrate every holiday with who isn’t here anymore,
you can have regrets there too.
Things you didn’t get to say before they were gone.
Things you didn’t get to do.
It can fill you with a lot of regret—heavy regret.
And I think Moses was alluding to those regrets at the end of Deuteronomy chapter
one as he’s helping the Israelites remember some important lessons from the past.
Because he starts talking about the Israelites, the adults, their relationship with their children, and
brings up a lot of things that would have filled their hearts with a lot of regret.
He says, basically, “Do you remember that day when the Lord told you that you would not be entering
the promised land but your children would?
And how did you react? You said there’s no way our children are going to make it for four decades in the wilderness.
There’s no way God could do that.”
Again, they didn’t trust.
And it seems that lack of trust had an impact on how they raised their children
because Moses also says about the children, he says, “Even now as they’re about to enter the promised land, they don’t know right from wrong,
and not because they were too young.
Because it seems their parents hadn’t taught them.”
Their lack of trust
had an impact on their parenting,
and now the children were going to go into the promised land and the parents were not,
which means they weren’t going to be there with their children for any holiday that was upcoming.
And how do you think they would have felt being reminded of all those things? Seeing the Lord
lead them successfully to the promised land but knowing that they failed to teach their children
everything that they would need to know about him?
I bet they were filled with a lot of regret.
And if you are too,
for any reason,
open up to Psalm 95 at some point sometime soon.
Psalm 95 refers to this whole situation that kept the Israelites out of the promised land
where it says, you know, it wants whoever’s reading that psalm to learn the lessons that were learned there that day—that we can trust the Lord.
But there’s, there’s a neat phrase that comes up in Psalm 95 where it says,
it says, “We are the flock of God’s pasture.
We are the sheep under his care.”
And who is that verse talking about?
Well, for one it was talking about the children that were going to go into the promised land.
The parents’ regrets were not going to stop God from caring for them
like a good shepherd.
But it was also talking about the people who carry regrets.
The fact that we have regrets
does not mean we do not have a good shepherd
who cares for us,
who takes responsibility for putting us under his care.
Remember, that’s the promise that he kept at the cross
where the good shepherd had every opportunity to run away from his,
from his weak sheep.
But he didn’t.
He showed us just how determined our shepherd really is
to shepherd his flock
into eternity.
Determined enough that he’s willing to forgive every regretful thing we’ve ever done.
And he already did,
which means
God holds nothing against you.
And if God holds nothing against you,
you don't have to either.
You don’t have to either .
You can rest well tonight, my friends,
because God will continue to shepherd you.
You are the flock
that will always be under his care.