Wasted and Ashamed: God Can Redeem It All
Quotes About Time
“Time moves in one direction, memory in another.” William Gibson
“To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else.” Emily Dickinson
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” J.R.R. Tolkien
“If you live life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” Bruce Lee
“Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” Leonardo da Vinci
“Forever is composed of nows.” Emily Dickinson
“You may delay, but time will not.” Benjamin Franklin
We All Know
We all know time is precious. We all know time is something everyone spends but can never rewind. We all know time is something we hold most dear but also lose track of the most.
But we also know that we don’t always spend our time well. We don’t always value the time we are spending with someone. We don’t always live in or value the moment. We see how our time was spent and sometimes become ashamed that we didn’t do more, be better, or tell someone we loved them more often. We look back and see how much time has passed and wonder how the heck that happened.
Wasted Years, Buried In Shame
I feel like time isn’t just flying by. I feel like it is running, zooming even, as fast as it can.
As I look back over my life, I can’t say I am proud. As I look back at 2025, I can’t help but feel ashamed of how I’ve spent it.
Ashamed of letting so much time pass and still being stuck.
Ashamed of not working on my goals more.
Ashamed of my body.
Ashamed of gaining weight.
Ashamed of my coping mechanisms.
Ashamed of not being able to help the people I love and care about.
Ashamed of letting depression, fear, doubt, and worry win in my life.
Ashamed of barely being able to get through the day.
Ashamed of failing at everything I try.
Ashamed of not being able to or knowing how to do the things that seem so easy for others.
Ashamed of my current season of life.
Just overall ashamed of myself. Consumed by my mistakes and buried in my shame.
People In the Bible Dealt With Shame Too
The more and more I read the Bible, the more and more I relate to the people in it. When you are in Sunday school, the stories are very kid friendly and a high level version of the story. But as an adult, as I’ve read the Bible, I realize how deep, hard, and difficult the things people in the Bible went through are. I realize the wrong decisions many people made. I realize the people we idolized weren’t perfect.
Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve felt ashamed after they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and hid from God. But they are not the only ones who probably dealt with shame.
I bet Samson felt ashamed after getting tricked by Delilah. I bet David felt ashamed after committing adultery and murder, something we see him grieving and regretting afterwards. I bet Peter felt ashamed after he had denied Jesus. The Bible tells us he “wept bitterly” after doing that (Matt 26:75 NASB). I bet Tamar felt ashamed after being raped and then thrown onto the streets. I bet Jonah felt ashamed after running from and disobeying God.
Has the shame you’ve felt made you want to hide? Has it made you want to weep? Has it made you want to tear your clothes? That’s how many of these people reacted and how many of us react as well.
In the Mess
God is not afraid to be in the mess with us. We need to stop being afraid of letting Him in.
He already knows everything about us. He knows everything we have been through. He knows everything we think, say, and do. We can’t hide it from Him.
He saw the moment we chose something that went against His Word and His will for us, and He still chose us anyway. He saw the moment we turned our backs on Him and He still loves us anyway. We can’t hide anything from God, even our shame, so we might as well give it to the One Who can heal all.
God’s Restoration
Not only does God see our messes, but He does something about them.
In Joel, a book that talks about God’s restoration and renewal, we see a verse that points to a bigger hope that God’s people will see after their time of judgement. And I believe this can encourage us today.
“‘So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.’”
Joel 2:25
When I first looked up this passage, I was reading verse 25 and felt the Holy Spirit lead me to keep reading. I had no idea this passage was going to talk about shame, let alone mention it twice.
26 “‘You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to shame.
27 “‘Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel:
I am the Lord your God
And there is no other.
My people shall never be put to shame.’”
Joel 2:26-27
I’d thought my time was wasted and that there was nothing that could be done to fix it.
I was wrong.
My time isn’t lost.
My time isn’t unredeemable.
I don’t have to live in shame anymore.
My wasted years do not define me.
These verses in Joel show us that God didn’t forget anything. He mentioned 3 types of locusts and says He will restore everything they have taken away, AND that His people will not be put to shame.
God hasn’t forgotten what you’ve gone through, and He WILL turn it around.
Can I Be Honest?
The season of life I have been currently walking through hasn’t been easy. I wrote a lot of this last year. I believe it to be true. I am also working through the doubt, hurt, and confusion that sometimes clouds this truth for me.
I realize,
I forgot who I was.
I forgot Who I serve.
While I might feel lost, God hasn’t abandoned me. I am not where I want to be, but I know where I am heading. I might feel messy, but I know I can rest in the knowledge that God still chose me and chooses me every single day, even when I don’t.