We’re currently halfway through our Treatment series where we’re addressing the topics that many people deal with but the church rarely wants to talk about.
Anxiety. Depression. Grief. Addiction. Insecurity. And the like.
It’s been an incredibly powerful series so far. This past weekend, we talked about depression and grief, and there was one idea that seemed to really resonate with our people, so I thought I’d share it with the blog audience in case you or anyone you know needs it today.
I was recently studying for this past weekend’s message out of Lamentations 3:1-26 while watching the NBA playoffs in the background. Even if you’re not the biggest basketball fan, you’re probably familiar with the idea of a shot clock. Every time you have possession of the ball, there’s a timer counting down from 24 seconds. When the timer runs out, if you haven’t shot the ball and hit the rim or rebounded it, you turn the ball over to the other team.
Well, I was watching, and at one point, the Mavericks took a shot at the last second of one of their possessions. They missed, but they rebounded the ball. And when they did, the announcer said something that clearly tied into what I was studying in Lamentations:
They get a new 24. The shot clock is reset. They get a new 24.
As soon as I heard that, it immediately made me think of Lamentations 3:22-24:
Because of the LORD’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
Every day, you get a brand new 24. A fresh 24 hours to come at life again. Whatever failures or mistakes, whatever mishaps or missteps that happened yesterday don’t have to determine the course of today. Today is a brand new opportunity for you. A fresh start. You might have missed some shots yesterday. But today you get the ball back, and you can choose to do whatever you want with it.
That’s really good news, because if you’re like me, you don’t get it perfect every day. Life doesn’t happen perfectly to you every day, either. And it can be really easy to beat up on yourself. To freeze-frame your failure or your circumstances.
But God doesn’t look at it that way. For God, his mercy is enough to cover over what you did yesterday and empower you to live a brand new life today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life. For God, and for you, every day is another chance to live the life God has dreamed for you.
You’ve got a new 24 today. Give it your best shot. But even if you miss, know that a fresh 24 is waiting on you tomorrow.
