All We Have Left Undone
I’m cleaning our family room, putting away kids’ books that were haphazardly stacked on the shelf, when the regret hits. I’ve read so few of these titles to my youngest daughter, and she’s about to start kindergarten. Out of all four of my kids, I’ve read to her the least, and I wish I’d taken more time to sit with her. I wonder if she won’t love books as much as her siblings do because of my neglect in this matter.
Self-questioning is in many ways a normal part of life. Concerns and regrets like these seem to pile up in every corner of my life, often with far greater stakes at play than my kids’ love for literature. As a Sunday School teacher wrapping up the school year, I’m thinking about the seniors about to leave for college and whether I’ve done all I could to prepare them spiritually to leave home. I think of some other families in our congregation who are hurting. I haven’t had the capacity to check up on them due to my own sickness and work schedule, but still I wonder if I could’ve pushed myself more. Friends on the mission field also come to mind, and I think about how I haven’t prayed for them as regularly as I should.
Have mercy on me, O God, for all that I have left undone.
The Heavy Burden of Sins of Omission
I remember hearing a story once about a hermit who decided to live on his own so that he wouldn’t be tempted to sin. But he was wrong to think it was enough just not to do bad things. Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love, and loving God and neighbor is not something you can do by mere avoidance of wrong actions. “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin,” James affirms (James 4:17).
But what happens when this category of sin—the good things we neglect to do, or “sins of omission”—starts to feel like a terrible burden? How do you live with a clear conscience when the needs of the broken meet you with every scroll through your newsfeed? When it feels like you’re always missing opportunities to love people better, even though you’re trying your best? When it seems as if there is always more good that you could or should be doing?
Many Christians, in their desire to follow God wholeheartedly, struggle with guilt and fear over their failures to do all the things God wants them to do. They look at the past with regret or to the future with anxiety over the things left undone.
If you struggle this way, here are three prayers you can pray—plus one precious reminder—based on Psalm 103.
Forgive me, O God, for the things I have left undone because of my sin.
Every Sunday during our worship service, my church prays a prayer of repentance. Corporately, we confess to God and one another that “we have sinned against [God] by what we have done and what we have left undone.” This prayer is a recognition that we sin not just in obvious willful acts of wrongdoing but when we neglect to do the good we should do.
When we fail to do the good that God has commanded and the Holy Spirit convicts us of this failure, we can turn to God knowing that, as David writes:
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities. (v 8-10)
For the ways in which we’ve truly failed to seek God wholeheartedly and love as Christ loved us, we pray for forgiveness from a God who has promised that he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Have compassion on me, O God, for the things I have left undone in my frailty and limitations.
Living in a world full of needs, it can be hard to discern which ones we as individuals are called to meet. As limited beings, we are not able to give to every worthy cause, be at every ministry event, cook for every meal train, or even remember to pray for every need we witness. Christians with tender consciences often feel this limitation keenly, even when our limits are not bad in themselves. We may be unable to do all we want due to other good responsibilities God has given us, to sickness, to burnout, or just due to the number of waking hours we have in a day. Still, there always seems to be more that we could be doing to serve others and seek God’s kingdom.
“God knows your frame and the particular limitations that he has given you.”
When we feel guilty about our inability to do more acts of service and love than we are able, we can remember that…
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust. (v 13-14)
In his fatherly compassion, God does not expect you to be superhuman. He does not shame you for being bound in time, limited to one location, or finite in your capacity. Instead, he remembers how he made you—that you are dust.
God knows your frame and the particular limitations that he has given you. And as the apostle Paul writes, he does not judge your giving based on your limited resources but on your eagerness to give (2 Cor. 8:12). He knows the constraints that keep you from doing all the good you feel like you ought to do, and rather than condemn, he shows compassion to you.
Make your ways and acts known, O God, in your steadfast love.
Those of us who struggle with anxiety about committing sins of omission often bear the heavy burden of knowing our failures to obey God not only grieve him but cause harm to others. We know all too well the ways in which our failures to love end up hurting those in our churches, friendships, neighborhoods, and families.
For those of us plagued with fear over the ways in which our sins and limitations might hurt others, Psalm 103 reminds us of God’s power and providence. Despite those who would purposely harm the weak and vulnerable, God works “righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed” (v 6). And though the Israelites sinned against God through their history, he nonetheless “made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel” (v 7).
The stories of Scripture—and the story of our redemption—show us that human sin and failure never have the final say because of God’s gracious sovereignty. In his love and power, God works even what is meant for evil for his glory and the good of his people. “The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom”—not our mistakes and failures— “rules over all” (v 19). Thus the story he writes in our lives and the lives of those we care for is not determined by our own ability to love perfectly. We can pray with confidence that God is working his will in all our lives according to his steadfast love and faithfulness.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits! (Psalm 103:2)
Psalm 103 opens with David’s exhortation to his own soul to worship God and to remember. Remember how he forgives, heals, and redeems. Remember how he crowns you with love and mercy. Remember the way in which he satisfies your desires with good things and renews your strength. This is God’s character. This is what God is like in his interactions with you.
As you seek to obey God and love people, remember what God has done and what he is like. He is not nitpicky or watching from afar, waiting for you to mess up and miss his will. He is near to you, and just as he actively worked in your salvation and redemption, he works to show you his goodness in tangible ways now.
In the midst of all our regrets and fears over all we have left or will leave undone, this is our God—the Lord who forgives us of our sins, the Father of compassion who knows our limitations, the King who works all things according to his loving and gracious will. His steadfast love is from everlasting to everlasting (v 17). Remember this, O my soul, and with all that is within me, bless his holy name! (v 1)
For more on this, read “A Prayer for When You Fear Missing the Way (And for All That Is Left Undone)” in Faith’s book, Peace Over Perfection: Enjoying A Good God When You Feel You’re Never Good Enough.
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