Learn from Mistakes

"I learn from my  mistakes."  I've been tempted to include this as an attribute on my resume.  Usually when I discover my error or my supervisor points it out, I will say a cause for the error.  It sounds like an excuse.  "That field on the screen is so small, my old eyes can't read it." Actually I am telling my brain to take another step next time.  So no matter how many times I've proofed something on the computer monitor, I'm still old-school . I print it and read it.  I almost always catch another error.  I try to learn from my mistakes and not repeat them.  I usually finish by saying "I don't make the same mistake twice, I find another mistake to make!"

In Deuteronomy 10:1-5, God is giving Moses instructions for the second set of tablets.  He told Moses to chisel two more stone tablets, just like the ones he broke when the Israelites made the idol.  He added that Moses should make a wooden ark.  After God wrote on the second set of tablets they would be put in the ark.

God was giving Moses and the Israelites some help to not repeat their sins.  By building the ark, He told Moses to put some effort into prevention of a relapse.  Could He have been warning Moses not to get so angry with the people that he would break something as the Ten Commandments, both physically and spiritually?  Perhaps the ark was as much for Moses' protection as it was for the stone tablets?

Then Moses did as he was commanded.  He chiseled the tablets, built the ark and went back to the mountain to get the tablets engraved again.  When Moses came back from the mountain, he put the tablets in the ark and "they are there now."

These verses give me advice on how to start again after sin:

1.  Put some effort into prevention of a relapse.  Prepare the ark.  Don't put myself in tempting situations.  Don't worry and mourn too much.  Consider the why of my disobedience.

2. Make a  plan to obey.  Do "as the Lord commands." Make a decision and a plan not to sin, at least that same sin, again.

3. Continue to obey.  "They are there now."  The tablets remaining in the ark show me that I can remain faithful but also this reminds me that God is still with me.  The tangible symbol of  God's love is protected, from my sin, for me in the ark.  Jesus is always waiting for me to learn my lesson from my sin and to obey.

Hopefully I won't make the same mistake twice.  I probably will find another mistake to make!  Fortunately God will continue to  love me.