Way back in 1970, Tyrone Davis sang into the airways a song that reached number one on Billboard’s R & B Chart. The best-selling hit, “Turn Back the Hands of Time,” spoke to the sentiments of the masses. Down through the ages, countless numbers of people have said it: “If I could turn back the hands of time!” Davis was singing about a broken relationship that he wanted to recover. And like Davis, so many others long for a do-over moment in life – crying out from the depths of their spirit for an opportunity to redo something that went terribly wrong in their past. But there’s hope, because the Living God is a God of a second chance in time.
God’s second chances – in time – are ultimately all about getting our life right with Him. But when we think about “Turning Back the Hands of Time,” our focus is most often on something we want to set right in the natural. But for God, another shot, a new opportunity, a second time is all about the heavenly things and eternal things that are so much more important than this present life. But are we willing to think like God?
Of course, men and women need to be open and honest before God about the wasted time spent in bad thinking and bad living. Paul calls it out, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…” Ephesians 2:2. That was back then! But now, the God of the second chance in time has set us right and made things right: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. Yes, we completely blew it in the past, but our loving God “Turned Back the Hands of Time” by washing us in the blood of Jesus and took away all the sin debts from our past. Now that’s great news!!! – Van Hardin