Get Back Up!

Exodus 34:1

“The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.”

Have you ever been hit so hard that it knocked the wind out of you? I remember one time in middle school football when I got paired up with the A-team’s starting running back in a drill called angle tackling. This drill definitely separated the men from the boys and let’s just say, I hadn’t fully developed into a man yet. The drill was simple: run full speed at each other and see if you could bring down the ball carrier.

Coach blew the whistle, and off I went, charging at a 6ft tall, man-sized running back while I was a 5’4″ kid who could barely bench press the bar. SLAM. The next thing I knew, I was flying backward, landing flat on my back, staring up at the sky. I laid there for a while, trying to remember how to breathe, before finally rolling over and taking my place on the bench. Needless to say, that was the end of my football career.

Sometimes in life we also get hit so hard that we don’t know if we can get back up. Moses certainly knew what that felt like in the passage above. After everything that he had experienced, leading Israel out of slavery in Egypt, witnessing the parting of the Red Sea, and then standing in the very presence of God on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten commandments, he came down from the mountain to find his people worshiping a golden calf. Burning with anger, Moses threw the stone tablets on the ground and completely shattered them.

However, even after Moses made this big mistake, God wasn’t finished with him yet. In Exodus 34:1 the Lord tells Moses to go back up the mountain and chisel two stone tablets just like the first ones. In this moment, Moses had a choice. Was he going to stay down in his anger or get back up and follow the Lord’s command to climb the mountain again?

We have that choice today as well. When life hits, whether it’s because of our own foolish mistakes made when weren’t thinking clearly or when something happens to us that is completely out of our control, we can choose to either stay down or get back up stronger than before. Don’t let the devil convince you that your journey is over because of your past. God is just getting started with you. The Bible says in Proverbs 24:16, “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”

Today, remember that you are a child of the Most High God. Forever loved and chosen for such a time as this. Jesus died for us so we no longer have to carry the weight of our own guilt and shame. It is never too late to start again. Get back up, receive the Lord’s forgiveness, and move forward with confidence into the future He has prepared for you.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you that we don’t have to be perfect to follow you. As Moses said after he broke the stone tablets, You are compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Today, I put my past mistakes at the foot of the cross and choose to walk in the grace that You sacrificed your one and only son for. Thank you for a new day. In Jesus name, amen.