Praying Girls By Sheila WalshSample

Day Six

“God, why did I do that?”

Scripture: 1 John 1:8–9; Psalm 103:12; Isaiah 1:18

Sometimes the tears come as a flood.

We made a mistake, and we were caught in our mistake, and now we’re being asked to talk about the mistake we made. And it feels like agony having to explain how we messed up and having to hear about how wrong we were when we already know we were wrong. We know we were wrong. Do we really have to relive the whole thing? 

We choke up before the words even come. And then come the tears—filling our eyes, clouding our vision, streaming down our cheeks. It feels so bad to be in the wrong, so very, very bad. 

And yet we’re the ones who tend to make things far worse. 

An interesting passage in the Bible explains what we should do about our mistakes. First John 1:8–9 says this: 

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (NLT)

The first verse in the passage reminds us that we are, in fact, going to make mistakes. The truth is that we will goof up, we will make mistakes, we will sin. The second verse reminds us that we don’t have to stay stuck in a cycle of sadness and sorrow. What’s more, we don’t have to feel ashamed. 

Whew!

Let me say that last part again. We don’t have to feel ashamed. You never have to experience shame.

What can you do instead? Confess your mistake to God. Tell Him you’re sorry for goofing up. Claim the forgiveness He says is yours. Ask Him to make you perfectly clean. And then watch as that flood of grief and shame is beautifully, miraculously dried up. 

God, thank You for showing me that there is a big difference between hating the mistakes I make and hating myself for making them. Help me to love myself as You love me, even when I goof up. Help me to trust You to forgive me for my sins and to make all things new once more. Amen.