Second Chances

What started as a sanctuary for Joseph and his family turned into slavery. Hundreds of years after seeking sanctuary, the Israelites find themselves completely broken and subdued. They are weak in body, and their spirits are not any better.

Exodus 1:13-14 (NLT)

“So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.”

So God uses Moses to showcase His power and sovereignty by issuing ten plagues that would ultimately deliver His chosen people, whom He deeply loved.

Exodus 6:6-8 (NLT)

“Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the LORD. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your very own possession. I am the LORD!’”

And it’s not enough to know that God had a “chosen” people. You must understand the depth of His love for Israel. There are no new words I could introduce to explain this, as the Bible is full of them.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 (NLT)

“For you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. “The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.”

Over and over, God was merciful to Israel, no matter how bad the mistakes were. God was merciful when Israel made idols to worship instead of Him. God was merciful when Israel complained, rather than remaining grateful. God was merciful when Israel forgot all that God had done for them. God was merciful in punishments, rarely allowing Israel to suffer the full blow of His wrath.

Isaiah 54:7-8 (NLT)

“For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will take you back. In a burst of anger I turned my face away for a little while. But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer.”

Constantly, God kept coming back to a point of mercy, even though Israel was no better than an adulterer.

The heartbreak, the pain, the rejection, the accusation of never being enough that Israel put God through after He delivered them from hundreds of years of slavery, was appalling. Literally, whatever God had done for them was not enough.

I can only imagine the depths of the gut-wrenching, soul-crushing anguish and sorrow this brought God. To not be appreciated for what you have done. To not be loved for who you are. To not be trusted.

If this causes us mere mortals to shatter, can you imagine how it made God feel?

The God who made the heavens and the earth, the same God who knit them together in their mother’s womb, the same God who saw every time they sat down and stood up, who knew their thoughts, the same God who laid out every moment of their lives before the time they were even conceived, this powerful and ever so wise God was not enough.

So when I think of Passover, it’s not enough to just remember the ten plagues and God’s deliverance. I must remember the mercy that came before, during, and after the deliverance. I must remember His faithfulness.

Passover is celebrated twice a year in the Jewish faith.

The first time is in accordance with the precepts of God, but the second time…the second time is there to show mercy for those who could not observe the first Passover.

Numbers 9:10-11 (NLT)

“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If any of the people now or in future generations are ceremonially unclean at Passover time because of touching a dead body, or if they are on a journey and cannot be present at the ceremony, they may still celebrate the LORD’s Passover. They must offer the Passover sacrifice one month later, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They must eat the Passover lamb at that time with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast.”

It is a second chance.

It’s another way to showcase the mercy of God; it shows that even missed opportunities can be brought around a second time.

Joel 2:25-26 (NLT)

“The LORD says, “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you. Once again you will have all the food you want, and you will praise the LORD your God, who does these miracles for you.”

Simply put, the second Passover is a restoration of a promise once missed but twice given.

People who have stared death in the face and won often feel like they were given a second chance in life. And it changes them. They live differently. They breathe differently. They think differently. Gone are the old ways; everything is rebirthed through this perspective of seizing every moment because time and life are so sweet and so short.

That is how Passover should affect us.

The observance should redirect us to a place where we can live differently because we have been given a second chance. How precious it is that God has looked upon us and chosen to be merciful. He has looked upon the screwed-up hot mess that we can be, relented His wrath, and given us one more shot at the missed opportunity.

The promise remains. God’s faithfulness endures. The time for a second chance is here.

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