“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25, ESV)
There was a Milky Way chocolate bar commercial that aired years ago that pictured a tattoo artist and a client. The client wanted a tattoo that stated “No Regrets.” Unfortunately, the tattoo artist was not a good speller. Instead of “No Regrets,” he tattooed “No Regerts.” The irony is that both the tattoo artist and t he client now had regrets due to the uncorrectable error.
All of us have regrets in life. They may be for poor decisions that we have made, hurts that we have inflicted on others, sins that we have committed, failures in life, and etcetera.
The problem is that our regrets can leave deep emotional wounds in our lives. The result of these emotional wounds if left untreated will result in emotional illnesses. The big issue here is how to deal with these regrets which affect our emotional wellness.
There are many steps necessary to deal with regrets, depending upon the cause of the specific regret. One was the subject of the previous post. It was the regret for sins that we have committed. The solution for this is to trust in the work of Christ on the cross, where He atoned for our sin and by faith, we acknowledged our sins and we were counted as righteous, our sins being forgiven.
Another issue is our regrets over our own past failures and the negative repercussions that we have endured because of them. An example might be a bad decision that cost one a lot of money, a relationship, a loss of property, and others. In this case we must remember that God is for us and not against us. He knew about all the poor decisions we would make in life and still has plans for us to have a glorious future as His children. Remember the words of the Lord recorded by Joel, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.” Confess the past failures, learn from them and move on for Gods glory.
Last, what about the regrets we have regarding those whom we have hurt? Obviously, we must also confess this to the Lord. Yet beyond confession there are some steps to take. First, if possible, seek restoration with the person. Try to make things right with the one you hurt. Make sure that you humbly own up to your part in this hurt and do not make excuses for your actions.
Second, make restitution where needed. If you have defrauded or stolen something deal with it.
Third, pray for the one you have hurt, that God would heal their wounds. For “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3, ESV) The Lord can do something that we cannot. Only He can heal the broken heart. Trust that the Lord will soothe the wounded heart.
Renewing the Heart 