The backlight on my phone was misbehaving. It dimmed and would only light up for a second when I scrolled through screens. As soon as the new screen settled, it dimmed again. I tried going into settings to see if I had accidentally pressed something I should not have. (I tend to do that with my Kindle, especially with the auto-rotate function.) I was hoping the solution would be found there, but nothing I did changed that misbehaving backlight.
Then I remembered my days interacting with IT departments in the various organizations where I had worked. The first thing they always asked was, “Did you do a restart?” It became a habit when having computer problems to just do that restart before calling IT instead of waiting for them to remind me.
So, I restarted my phone and miraculously the backlight was no longer misbehaving and thoughts of having to buy a new phone exited my mind.
Restart. Don’t you wish you had a restart button on your life or your relationships or your finances? Let’s go back to bed and restart this day. Let’s go back and fix that relationship before it blew apart. Let’s go back and save more, prepare better for retirement years. Unfortunately, for many things in this life there is no restart.
Except for God and His grace. I was reminded of that as I read Psalm 103 this morning. God takes our sin and removes it from us as far as the east is from the west. His restart in our lives is found in His faithful love and grace shown to us in Christ Jesus. The penalties that we deserve have been removed and we now are blessed with His compassions that fail not.
“He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our offenses. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” [vs 10-13 HCSB]
I love the song, “Except for Grace,” sung by the Martins. It always ministers to my soul – I pray it ministers to yours.
(105) The Martins - Except for Grace/Grace Grater Than Our Sin [Live] - YouTube
