Reset

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." — Psalm 51:10 NIV

A person’s palate is their appreciation of taste and flavor. Depending on the development of a person’s palate, how someone interprets taste and flavors can vary. This is because the palate of a person is developed over time based on the types of food they’ve been exposed to or regularly eats. If a person wants to change their palate, he or she must go through the process of a palate reset in order to break away from their commitment to a particular taste. This is especially important if a person’s preferred taste is for foods that cause harm to the body. As you know, every person in this world is a spiritual being, housed inside of a physical body. I believe just as we have a palate in the physical, we also have a palate in the spiritual. This spiritual palate has nothing to do with physical food but spiritual food and the quality of our understanding.

In the 34th Psalm, verse 8, David says “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.” This is a call to experience the goodness of God. I believe there are many who have tried God but only had a limited experience due to a conflicted palate. Their spiritual palate has been overrun by the bitterness of betrayal, the richness of retaliation, the sugar rush of sin, the candy coated clapback, the pungency of pride, and the buttery taste of laziness. Whatever a person experiences regularly in their life or environment has the power to influence their understanding to the point where something toxic can be perceived as healthy because it’s normal to them—it’s what they know.

Our focus this week is to reset our spiritual palates in order to satisfy our spiritual hunger. This can only be achieved through the practice of repentance. Each day we will walk through the process and benefits of a palate reset.

When I was a little boy, I played video games like the Nintendo NES, Super NES, SEGA Genesis, Nintendo 64 and Play Station. If you’ve ever played on these systems, I’m sure you’ve experienced the effect of wear and tear that occurs on the game cartridges or discs. This may occasionally lead to a moment where the game freezes in mid play. Once in this state, the game cannot continue, it’s required to start over. On each of these game systems, there’s a button designed for a moment such as this, it’s called the reset button. Once pressed, the gaming console would start over without shutting off.

Like those games, it’s possible that you’ve encountered damaging experiences and debilitating emotions that have left you in a frozen state. Still living, even moving but lacking forward movement in the purpose you were designed for. You’ve been stuck long enough. It’s time for a reset. It’s time to start over without shutting off.

The first step to a successful reset is to repent. Repent means to change how you think. When Jesus began to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, His first words were “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). Many, including myself, have thought to repent was to apologize. However, word repent means to change one’s mind. It’s true, God desires the confession of sins and contriteness of heart. However, when calling for repentance, Jesus reached beyond the apology and confession of sins demanded change—He was calling for a reset. But why? People were clearly alive and going on about their day-to-day affairs. Yet, they were not progressing in their purpose, therefore they were frozen. The original purpose of mankind is to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:26) as representation of the Kingdom of Heaven. Man lost its ability to fully carry out it God’s purpose when Adam and Eve fell to the deception of Satan and rebelled against God’s kingdom. When Jesus arrived as the “Last Adam,” he came to perform a reset—to align mankind with to its original purpose. But for this to happen, man must abandon its old way of thinking—its tainted palate of understanding, and begin to think differently (in fact, originally).

It’s time to repent. It’s time to change how we think. Not just today but it’s a practice we should exercise daily. For years and generations, our minds have been shaped by the pleasures, conflict, and sorrows of this world. It’s time that we live according to the purpose, pleasure and promise of the King. Another way to define repentance is to turn your heart towards God. In the Bible, the mind and heart are interchangeable. Today’s the day for a reset. Repent—change how you think, turn your heart towards the Father.

If you live in a house or apartment, it’s likely that you have an air conditioning system. Walking through your home, you will see vents where cold or warm air blows out into the room. Then somewhere you’ll likely find an area that looks like a vent but if you get close to it while the a/c is on you’ll quickly recognize that instead of blowing outward, it’s drawing air inward. This is called a return. It may seem pointless or like an eye sore, but it’s very important for the heating and cooling of your home. You see, once the air blows out of the vent, it comes out initially hot or cold but then due to the environment, it adjusts and loses its effectiveness. That’s where the return comes into play, it draws in unconditioned air in the room then sends it back to the air handler where it receives a fresh charge of heat or freon and then it’s redistributed back into the room to effectively heat/cool the room.

There have been times in my life where I felt like a vent. I was always blowing out — helping, creating, giving advice, and working. After a while, I noticed that I was beginning to feel less motivated, worn out and spent. Yet, I still kept blowing. Finally, one day I realized that in all of my activities, in all of my blowing outward, I had not taken time to return to God. It was during the formation of man that we discovered that He is the air handler of our souls: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7 KJV). Because I had not returned to Him, I was attempting to carry out the purpose of God without the power of God. I needed to be recharged.

In Hosea 12, the prophet describes how this generation of people had encountered God, were relentless in their pursuit of Him but now they had fallen away. He says, “But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always” (Hosea 12:6 NIV). If we desire a reset, we must return to God. Perhaps you’re like me, you’ve been expending yourself and you recognize that your effectiveness has eroded over time. I encourage you to return to God. You cannot do this alone. The command to return is not one to consider only if we have the time. No. Our return to God is necessary and must be done daily.

David was chosen as king by God himself. His success was because of God’s goodness. However, there was a season where David took matters into his own hands. He continued to build his life without the guidance of the Chief Inspector—God. It all began when David decided to stay home and rest during a time his nation was at war. During a war, the place of a king is to be with his army. Yet, David was home. David was out of place and outside of purpose. The most vulnerable man (or woman) is one who either doesn’t know his purpose or isn’t actively living out his purpose. This person can easily be convinced to do anything that’s remotely attractive even if it’s truly destructive. David was in a dangerous place.

One day he goes outside and sees a woman bathing on the rooftop of her home. This woman’s name is Bathsheba, the wife of one of David’s loyal officials, Uriah, who was off fighting in the war. In clearly poor judgement, David thought it would be a good idea to bring her to the palace and became intimate with her. She sent word to David that she was pregnant, setting fire to a sultry scandal. David immediately attempted to “put out the fire” by calling for Uriah from the battlefield with hopes that he would go and see his wife. However, Uriah refused to take part in such pleasure while his men were fighting. Instead of going home, he slept at the entrance of the palace. After David’s failed attempts, he then plans out Uriah’s murder and sends a letter to the commander of the army by way of Uriah. Here are the contents of that letter:

“And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.” — 2 Samuel 11:15

Joab, the commander of the army, did exactly as David instructed and Uriah died. I find it disturbing that David instructed his men to do to Uriah the very thing he had done with his purpose—abandon him. Uriah was abandoned by his own men in the middle of the fight and lost his life.

After Bathsheba mourned over the death of her husband, David brought her to the palace and made her his wife. He thought that his secret was kept but God was watching closely as all of these events unfolded. Once the child was born, God sent a message to David by way of Nathan, the prophet. He wanted David to know that He was not pleased with David’s choices and there would be consequence for his actions. David’s response to God’s correction was repentance. The 51st Psalm is the expression of his repentance. When David prayed, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10), he was fully aware of his condition. So much so that there are two key words he used in his petition, “create” and “renew.” These are words that can be used to describe the construction process. When Nathan rebuked him, David was forced to look at the collateral damage cause by the compromised structure of his heart. He was in desperate need of a rebuild.

Maybe your story doesn’t look exactly like David’s but maybe you’ve spent a season living and building on your own, without God’s guidance—moving outside of His purpose. Things happened that shouldn’t have and now you’ve awakened to the damage caused by your decision. This can be both alarming and disturbing and if not framed well, it can become depressing. The good news is that you can perform a reset through repentance but know that the reset is an opportunity to rebuild. Even better news is that God has given us a Master Carpenter, named Jesus. He was able to rebuild the damaged relationship between us and the Father and He is willing to help us rebuild the damage in our lives today.

Perhaps you see the collateral damage in your marriage, your family, your finances, your character, your career, and you wonder whether you can survive such damage. I want you that God is able and willing. Don’t be discouraged by the damage, God specializes in rebuilds. It’s going to take time, but you will be stronger on the other side than you were before.

To frame a thing means to give expression to it. When we encounter or reflect on a problem or the result, we can express our thoughts concerning it through our words and actions. Our expression, whatever it may be, is the direct result of the way we see. If looking through the lens of a broken understanding, we tend to judge a moment or matter based on the bitter taste of our history and not the glorious hope of our destiny. If we are having trouble seeing life from God’s perspective, we must use a reset as an opportunity to reframe.

Here’s an example of what this may look like: A business owner is in the early stages of starting their restaurant and run into what feels like a massive wall with the licensing and insurance process. Because he or she has kept an accurate record of every moment they’ve failed, their response to this wall is “This will never work! Every time I try to do something, I always fail!” As long the business owner see’s their problems this way, they will never see the success on the other side of this mountain of a moment. Their palate is used to failure so they anticipate failure. Even when success is in front of them, they will always veer towards the road to failure.

This person is in desperate need of a reset and reframe. Their ability to see clearly has been damaged by their history. A perfect way to reframe a difficult moment is to reflect on God’s word. His word carries a promise that will outlive every problem. An example of how our business owner could reframe their problem would be to say “This problem is very challenging. However, I believe there’s nothing too hard for God so I will overcome this!” (Jeremiah 32:27).

Perhaps you’re having a problem seeing the positive in a negative. The good news is you’re not alone. I also have problems seeing both physically and sometimes spiritually. One can be corrected by lenses and the other through prayer. There’s a story I’d like to share with you of someone who also had trouble seeing. Elisha, the prophet, had the unique ability to see what God would say, thus this gave his nation a strategic advantage in warfare. Although Elijah could see well, his servant could not—he did not possess the same ability. One morning his servant went out and saw that the entire city was surrounded by their enemies. The servant immediately became worried and reported what he saw to Elisha. Here’s Elisha’s response:

“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. — 2 Kings 6:16-17 NIV

The servant could only see imminent danger whereas Elisha could see their divine salvation. When you’re faced with challenges and it’s hard to see the good, I encourage you to pray for yourself just as Elisha prayed for his servant. Pray that your eyes would be opened so that you can see what you couldn’t see. You have not been setup for failure, instead you’ve been destined for victory! When praying for the Ephesian church, Apostle Paul said “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,” (Ephesians 1:18 NIV). Allow God to open your eyes so that you can hope again. A reset is an opportunity to reframe. Let God replace the picture in the frame of your heart with one that’s painted by His providence and not your problems.

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