The God Who Cancels Your Mistakes and Raises You from Poverty

 The God Who Cancels Your Mistakes and Raises You from Poverty

A revelation on mercy, restoration, and what to do when you’ve wasted your years

By Otun Stephen Gbenga

I woke up early one morning last month. Not because of an alarm. Not because of noise outside. Just… awake.

The room was dark. The house was quiet. And then I heard it. Not a thought. Not my own inner voice replaying yesterday’s worries. This was different. Clear. Firm. Gentle.

“I am the God who has the power to show mercy and cancel iniquity and mistakes. I am also the God who has the power to raise a poor man to an abundant man.”

I lay there, staring at the ceiling. Those words landed on my chest like a stone dropping into deep water. Not heavy. Final. Like something I had needed to hear for years but never allowed myself to believe.

Because here is the truth: I have made mistakes. Big ones. The kind that sneak up on you at 2 a.m. The kind that make you whisper into your pillow, “If only I had known.”

Maybe you know the feeling.

The Regrets That Follow Us Like a Shadow

Let me guess.

You are lying in bed right now – or sitting on a bus, or hiding in a bathroom at work – and your mind is doing that thing it always does. Playing the highlight reel of your failures.

I should have learned that trade when I had the chance. My uncle offered to teach me, and I said no because I was lazy. Now he is gone. Now I have nothing.

I should have stayed in school. But I wanted to make quick money. Now I am thirty-five with no certificate and no real skill.

I should not have spoken to my father that way. The last time I saw him alive, we were fighting. Now he is gone, and I cannot take it back.

I should not have rejected that job offer. The pay was low, but it had connections. I thought I deserved better. Now I have been unemployed for two years.

I should not have gotten angry at my boss and quit. He was difficult, yes. But I had a family to feed. Now I am running a POS stand that barely makes rent.

I should not have left the seminary. I had a calling. But I wanted freedom. I wanted a girlfriend. I wanted to see what the world had to offer. Now I am forty years old, married to a woman I do not love, working a job that means nothing, and every Sunday I watch young priests raise hands in blessing and I think… that should have been me.

I should not have ignored those chest pains. Now the diagnosis is bad. Now my children are scared. Now I cannot afford the treatment.

I should not have married him. Everyone warned me. But I was in love. Now I am trapped. Now I am exhausted.

I should have forgiven her. But I held onto my pride. Now my children do not speak to me. Now I sit alone.

Do any of these sound familiar?

Maybe not the exact details. But the shape – the curve of regret – that you know.

Here is what I have learned: regret does not just live in your head. It lives in your body. In your chest. In the way you avoid looking at old photographs. In the way you change the subject when someone asks about your past.

You are not alone. And that is not just a comforting phrase. It is the truth.

The Lie You Have Been Believing

Somewhere along the line, you started believing that God’s mercy has a limit.

I have used up my chances.

I have sinned too many times.

I have wasted too many years.

God helps people who made better choices – not people like me.

That is a lie. And it comes straight from the enemy of your soul.

Because here is what God actually says:

Isaiah 43:25 (NKJV)

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.”

Read that again. Slowly.

Blots out. The Hebrew word is machah. It means to wipe away, to obliterate, to erase completely. Like ink never existed on the page. Like that sin never happened.

And notice why He does it. Not because you earned it. Not because you apologized enough times. For My own sake. Because mercy is who God is. It is His nature. He does not forgive reluctantly. He delights in it.

Micah 7:18-19 (NKJV)

“Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

Not a shallow pond where the sin can float back to shore. Not a river where it can get caught on a rock. The depths of the sea. Gone. Finished. Done.

Your mistake with your father? Cast into the sea. Your wasted years chasing the wrong women or the wrong jobs? Cast into the sea. Your anger at your boss, your quitting too soon, your leaving the seminary, your ignoring the doctor? Cast into the sea.

So why are you still carrying it?

The Second Part: Raising the Poor to Abundance

The revelation did not stop at mercy.

“I am the God who has the power to raise a poor man to an abundant man.”

Not just “bless him a little.” Raise him. From low to high. From nothing to more than enough.

Let me tell you about a woman I know. Her name is Grace. She is a widow with three children. After her husband died, she lost everything. The business closed. The relatives took the house. She moved into a single room in a crowded neighborhood.

She told me, “Stephen, I used to cry every night. Not because I was sad. Because I was angry. Angry at God. Angry at my husband for dying. Angry at myself for not learning a skill when I had the chance.”

But one day, a neighbor invited her to a free tailoring class at the local church. She almost said no. What was the point? She was too old to learn. She had no machine. No capital.

She went anyway.

Two years later, Grace employs three women. She rents a shop. She pays her children’s school fees. She is not a millionaire. But she is not poor anymore.

God raised her. Not with a miracle check in the mail. With a neighbor. A church. A sewing machine. And her own two hands.

1 Samuel 2:7-8 (NKJV)

“The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory.”

 

The ash heap is where the trash goes. Where burnt offerings turn to dust. Where you sit when life has burned you.

But God lifts you from there and seats you among princes.

That is what He did for Joseph. Sold into slavery. Falsely accused. Thrown into prison. For years, nothing worked. But the Bible says something wild: “The Lord was with Joseph.” Not after he became prime minister. While he was in the prison. While he was a slave.

The waiting was not punishment. It was preparation.

Psalm 113:7-8 (NKJV)

“He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that He may seat him with princes – with the princes of His people.”

Your poverty – financial, emotional, spiritual – is not permanent. God raises the poor. Not someday in heaven. Here. Now. On this broken earth.

What Do You Do Now? Five Practical Steps

This is the part most devotionals skip. They tell you God is merciful. They tell you He raises the poor. But they do not tell you how to cooperate with that mercy. How to stop living in regret and start moving forward.

Here is how.

1. Stop Hiding and Name Your Mistake

You cannot heal what you will not feel.

Go to a quiet place. Say it out loud. Not to punish yourself. To release it.

“God, I made this mistake. I rejected my destiny helper. I wasted those years chasing women. I quit the job out of pride. I ignored my health. I married the wrong person. I said words I cannot take back.”

Proverbs 28:13 – “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”

Do not cover it. Name it. Then leave it at His feet.

2. Receive the Mercy – Stop Apologizing for the Same Sin

Some people apologize for the same sin for twenty years. That is not humility. That is unbelief.

God said He blots it out. Believe Him.

When the regret comes back – and it will, because the enemy is persistent – say this out loud: “That sin is in the depths of the sea. I am not going fishing for it.”

3. Ask God to Restore Your Lost Time

Time is the one thing you cannot earn back. But God is not bound by time.

Joel 2:25 (NKJV)

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.”

Pray this: “Lord, redeem the years I wasted. Accelerate my learning. Open doors that should have opened ten years ago. Give me double for my shame.”

Then watch what He does.

4. Take One Small Action Today

Mercy is not passive. After God forgave David, David got up and fought battles. After Peter was restored, he preached and three thousand people were saved.

What is your one small action?

· Apply for that job you think you are not qualified for.

· Send an apology text to that destiny helper.

· Enroll in that online course today.

· Visit that doctor. Make the appointment.

· Call your child. Say, “I was wrong. Forgive me.”

Do not wait for a feeling. Do not wait until you are ready. You will never feel ready. Just move.

5. Change Your Financial Posture

Being poor is not a sin. Staying poor when God offers abundance can be a lack of cooperation.

Start giving. Even small. Even ₦100. It breaks the spirit of poverty. It tells your heart, “I trust God, not my wallet.”

Learn a skill. Read a book on finance. Ask someone successful to mentor you. God raises the poor, but He usually uses people, training, and discipline to do it.

A Prayer for You

Father, I come to You with my regrets.

You know the mistakes I have made. The wasted years. The angry words. The wrong doors I walked through. The people I hurt. The opportunities I rejected.

Today, I stop hiding. I lay it all down at Your feet.

You said You blot out iniquity. I receive that.

You said You cancel mistakes. I believe that.

You said You raise the poor to abundance. I need that.

Restore my time. Open doors that have been closed for years. Bring back the helper I rejected – or send a new one. Teach me a skill that pays. Heal my marriage. Heal my body. Heal my heart.

I am not staying in the ash heap. You are seating me among princes.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Final Word

You did not mess up too much for God’s mercy. You did not waste too many years for His restoration.

He is the God who cancels mistakes. And He is the God who raises the poor.

That is not a slogan. That is a revelation.

And it came to me at 5 a.m., in the dark, when I was not looking for it. Maybe this is your 5 a.m. moment too.

Do not live in the past anymore. It is not your home.

Your home is ahead of you.

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Did this devotional speak to you? Share it with someone who needs to hear that their past is not final.

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