Moving on from sin

“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.” 1 Samuel 12:20
Here in 1 Samuel 12 we have Samuel’s farewell speech to the nation of Israel as he was approaching retirement. He had thought his sons would succeed him as judges over the nation, but the people objected because his sons were corrupt (1 Sam. 8:1-5). Instead, they asked for a king, and God led Samuel to anoint Saul as the first king of Israel. Their asking for a king was sin, because the Lord was supposed to be their king. Instead of trusting Him to place godly leaders over the nation, they asked for a king: so they could be like the other nations (1 Sam. 8:5). They had rejected God as their king (1 Sam. 8:7).
When Samuel pointed this out to them, and the Lord sent thunder and hail in cofirmation (1 Sam. 12:17-18), they realised what they had done was displeasing to the Lord. But this was not the end. Samuel gives them hope: They would still be His people, and He would still protect them if they continued to serve Him and not follow after foreign gods.
The same is true for us. Sometimes we commit sin that changes the course of our life permanently. It might be premarital sex, resulting in a child being conceived. It might be adultery, resulting in the dissolution of a marriage. There are some things that cannot be undone. But even though we cannot escape the life-changing consequences, if we repent, God will still forgive us. He did so with David (2 Sam. 12:13). And after you have repented, and received that forgiveness, the next step is to get on with life. God’s forgiveness is complete – He won’t bring up those things again, even though Satan will constantly remind you of them. The key is this: Don’t dwell on your past sins, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Your past might be a mess, but your future is glorious with the Lord.