Embrace Who You’ve Become - Forgiveness Through the Psalms

“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” (Psalm 139:14, NLT)

“The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!” (Psalm 16:6, NLT)

“LORD, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD—now and always.” (Psalm 131:1-3, NLT)

I was sitting around the campfire at the home of one of my heroes recently, soaking up the opportunity of a lifetime to glean wisdom in a personal setting with a few other faith leaders. As he was talking, he said something to the effect of “In your twenties and thirties, the driving force is ambition. Your sole focus is on who you can become. In your forties and onward, the driving force is anger. Your sole focus is on who you have become and wrestling down the disappointment of not becoming who you intended to be.”

I remember being struck by that. Though I’m not in my forties (or thirties, for that matter, which just means I have a lot of pain left to endure—kidding, but not really), I do pastor many people in their forties and beyond, and this resonates with the experience that I hear from them.

Often, when I meet with twenties and thirties, their focus is on what’s ahead. The goals to achieve, the dreams to fulfill, the life to live.

Often, when I meet with those in their forties and beyond, the focus is on what’s been missed. The regrets they have, the ways they’ve fallen short, the opportunities they missed out on.

There’s something to be said about the human experience in navigating the lifelong arc of contentment. In a world that thrives on cynicism, we must ruthlessly fight for it.

Many people take the apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 4 vastly out of context. He writes, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13, NIV). This sounds like a great, motivational pep talk to get us through hard times. But what we might miss are the verses preceding this one, where Paul explains, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13, NIV).

Did you catch it? Paul says he has learned the secret of being content whatever the circumstances. Paul likens contentment to something more to be discovered than delivered.

Contentment isn’t something that just comes with age. It’s not a part of our next iOS system. It must be learned. It must be trained. It must be developed. It must be discovered.

My friend, perhaps you’ve come to today’s reading filled with far more grief than joy, more hate than hope, more despair than delight.

I believe you are invited today to forgive life for not meeting your expectations. In some instances, life is unfair. In other instances, our poor decisions have led us to where we are. Still in other instances, a combination of both beat us down.

Paul is in prison as he writes these words—living under dire circumstances. And yet . . . he has learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Psalm 139 likewise declares that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

So what if, instead of regretfully lamenting who you did not become, you instead graciously celebrated who you are? What if, instead of seeking to escape your present circumstances, you embraced them?

Forgive life for not playing out the way that you wanted it to.

Explore the invitation God might have for you this day. As the psalmist writes, “This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24, NKJV).

May it be so, we pray.