When working with a computer, many people (including myself) will get so frustrated with the computer, we force the computer to turn off by pulling the power cable out from the wall socket (just holding down the power button works too). It is called a power cycle or hard reboot; I have always thought of it as a hard reset. Sometimes we are not even frustrated, but we just recognize the computer can not do what we need it to do in its current state, and so we perform the hard reset.

I have been reading through Jeremiah for my morning devotional and I was struck by one of the notes in my study Bible. It said that 70 years passed between the exile of the Israelites and their return to the Promised Land. I thought to myself “it must have been a new generation of Israelites that returned to Jerusalem, because anyone who was exiled would have died in that time.” I do know there were some survivors of the Exile who returned to Jerusalem, but as a whole, it was new generation that came back to the Promised Land.

Then I remembered in Numbers 14 that Israel was forbidden to enter the Promised Land for 40 years because they had sinned against God and God wanted a new generation to enter the land. It was like God wanted to hit the reset button on the Israelites. He wanted to make sure they were not completely infected with sin the moment they settled in the new land; it would be hard enough to stay pure in the Promised Land as it was.

We need a hard reset too. Our new life in Christ is the Promised Land and we can’t be infected with sin to live in it. Perhaps you are a new Christian and are struggling and learning new ways to live and relate to others. Maybe you have been a Christ follower for awhile, but sin has snuck in the back door when you weren’t looking.

We will never be perfect; we are sinful creatures, but our encounter with God should change us in radical ways! Whatever that is…you might know already what God wants you to change. Oftentimes we need a hard reset…and sometimes God does it for us.

Author’s note: This post originally appeared at Fridley Covenant Church.