A God Of Second Chances - Joel Raygor
Nahum 1:7
The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him.
The morning of May 6th was clear and calm. A little before first light, my back was up against a big maple tree about forty yards into the timber.
Four days earlier, at this very spot, I had called a big tom into sixty yards. He saw my hen decoy, and decided he would just stay in the field and strut, looking big and handsome. In his mind, she would simply come to him. After thirty minutes of this hen playing hard to get, the big bird lost interest, tucked his wings, and walked away, never looking back.
This morning there would be no decoy, and my calling strategy would not be the same. A half hour before sunrise, I gave a few soft tree yelps followed by a flydown cackle. The tom gobbled from the same spot as he had a few days earlier. Instantly I responded with some aggressive cutting. The next time he gobbled I could tell he was much closer. Once again I gave an excited short series of cuts and yelps and then... I went silent. He was coming, but this time he would have to find the hen.
After a few minutes of silence, he gobbled, but all he got was more silence. About ten minutes went by, when he gobbled again. You could almost hear the panic in his gobble. The gun was on my knee when he crested the ridge at sixty yards. He thought he would see the hen and expected her to run to him. Instead he got nothing. After just minutes, that seemed like an hour, he finally decided he would come find this 'hot hen'. At thirty seven yards the jig was up.
Life doesn't always give us a second chance, but the good news is that our God is a God of second chances. Most of us mess up again and again, but, our God is patient. The bible shows God as a restorer who offers second chances, new beginnings, and abundant mercy to all of us when we repent and turn back to Him.
In Psalm 86:15 we read... "But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."
Just as God is patient and forgiving, He wants His children to be patient with and forgiving of others. Our God is the God of second chances.
Help achieve the mission - GIVE today
Click the button to sign up for Dean’s Daily Devotional. FREE and delivered daily.