Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

A Series on Living in the Wilderness
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
2 Samuel 11:1-5; Psalm 32:1-11

 [In this series, we will be looking at people in the Bible who lived in the wilderness. Not necessarily a wilderness of natural creation, but the metaphorical wilderness of life. In fact, there are times when we all feel like we are living in the wilderness. During those times, it’s important to remember that the Lord is always with you.]

  

Regrets! We all have them. Sometimes they’re small, like when I sold my vintage record
collection for pennies on the dollar; or when I threw away my 1974-76 collection of Michigan State football programs that I had saved for 30 years. Man I wish I wouldn’t have done that! I still regret it!

 

Some regrets though, are more serious. Like acting out on an addiction which results in hurting those you love the most, as well as yourself. You wish you could take it back, but it’s in the past, and you can’t change the past. Not only can you not change it, but the consequences can be life changing.

 

Regrets lead to guilt and shame. They can eat you up on the inside leading into more self-destructive behavior. Regrets can stay with you for years, if not for the rest of your life. David was intimately familiar with regrets.

 

He had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Then, to make matters worse, he had her husband Uriah, killed in battle. Even though David recognized his sin and confessed it, there were life changing consequences.

 

The son that David and Bathsheba conceived together… died; David’s son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar; in retaliation, Absalom, who was Tamar’s brother, killed Amnon; eventually Absalom conspired to overthrow David. On and on it went like ripples in the water. David lived in a wilderness of his own creation.

 

Here’s what David wrote about living in the wilderness, and how the Lord healed him.

 

³ When I kept it all inside,
    my bones turned to powder,
    my words became daylong groans.

⁴ The pressure never let up;
    all the juices of my life dried up.

⁵ Then I let it all out;
    I said, “I’ll come clean about my failures to God.”

Suddenly the pressure was gone—
    my guilt dissolved,
    my sin disappeared.        MSG

 

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. We all feel that way sometimes; like we’re living in a wilderness of our own making. Thankfully, the Lord forgives; the Lord heals; the Lord makes us whole again.

 

Copyright 2021 Joseph B Williams