Power of Second

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We are fixated with first.  First gets good press, plenty of press. First gets the photo opportunities, just ask the first child! All the photos are their first smile, first steps, first teeth, first day at school… by the time the second and third child come along……not so many photos.  First gets all the attention in the news whether it is coming first, or the first on the spot of a tragedy, first to speak...  Yet I want to suggest that second, especially a second time has its own kind of power.  

I discovered the power of a second time learning to play the piano.  As I sat my grade V exam nerves overcame me. My knees knocked and my fingers slithered off the keys, my hands shook so badly. The examiner took pity and tried to help by encouraging me to deep breathe.  It didn’t help and I failed miserably.  Failure didn’t sit well. I stopped playing.  A couple of years went by. I went back to learning music. I tried the same exam a second time.  This time, I went in much better prepared. I had practised hard. I was humbled enough to know that I needed a power outside of myself, so I had prayed hard…I passed the exam and went on in the following year to pass another two.  Going a second time, gave the opportunity to face down my nerves, to defeat the sense of failure and try again.

God, I discover, delights in the second time.  He enjoys giving “failures” a second go. Moses tried to deliver Israel by himself. He failed miserably and disappeared into the desert to lick his wounds.  God came looking for him and called him back to Egypt for a second go.  This time, he went with God.  Jonah was asked by God to go deliver a message to Nineveh. He didn’t. He went in the opposite direction.  Jonah 3:1 states the word of God came a second time.  Sufficiently humbled, as Moses was, as I was, Jonah went.  This time the word of God he delivered had a powerful impact on Nineveh.

Jeremiah knew the power of second as he watched the potter work with a pot that failed.  The potter patiently reworked the clay to produce a whole pot.  This picture of a flawed clay pot reworked is a picture of what Jesus came to do.  He came to give flawed humanity a second go. Jesus discussed this with Nicodemus in John 3:3-4.  He called it being “born again”.  Born of God, given a fresh start, a new life, a second go at doing life as God had originally intended for each of us.  

Second, in God’s eyes, is a word of grace and hope.  Don’t let a first-time failure rule your life. Don’t let mistakes and a messed up “pot” be the final story of your life.  God graciously gives us all a second go, even a third and a fourth to get it right.

Jeremiah was in prison, “lockdown” if you like, (Jeremiah 33:1), when the word of God came a second time.  Jeremiah had faithfully delivered the first word from God, a word of judgement and call to repentance.  The second word was a word of hope and restoration. When God gives us a second chance grab a hold of it. 

When the second time comes there comes a second wind or the grace and power to accomplish the word of God.  A marathon runner two thirds into their run will invariably “hit the wall”. Their muscles will cramp, their energy is spent, and their body is calling out to stop.  The experienced runner knows that if they go a little further, keep running a little longer, they will break through into the second wind.  The second wind is a fresh surge of energy that takes them through the final stages and over the finish line.  There is power in “the second”.  Don’t be discouraged, don’t give up on your faith, God gives a second wind of his grace and power to endure, to implement and complete.

We’ve gone into lockdown a second time, as many others around the world have too.  We groaned. We complained. The second time is not so “fun”.  But second holds different opportunities.  Second enables us to do it better this time. Second allows us to revisit those new priorities we intended to implement the first-time round.  Second is God’s word of grace – He is offering all of us a second chance – you, me, the church and the nation.

 PS: You might like to check out RESET too.

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