I came up with this concept while working on computers, especially the older ones that were more prone to freezing up. A lot of people would leave their computers on indefinitely. Even today I know of people that still do. Over time, it seemed that as the computer was used more and more that the different programs would just leave behind “junk” in the system memory or something.

While I am a bit of an “internet guy”, I would say that I was never really a “computer guy” so I can’t really say with any authority what was going on behind the scenes. All I know is that over time the computer would just get gummed up and would work much more slowly with no apparent reason. The only thing to do to fix this problem was to reboot the machine at which time it would miraculously be freed of all its sluggishness.

Some time after this I came up with the idea that there are actually “reset days”. It just seemed that some days were doomed to be “bad days” for one reason or another. That the majority of the events that transpired over the course of these types of days would either be unusually stressful or outright bad. The reset day would end once you went to bed and woke up on a new day. Rarely did I notice that I came across to reset days in a row, so if I felt that I was caught up in one I would look forward to the end of the day in a big way. I’ve never had a “reset week” either.

I also came up with the idea that no matter what you did or how you prayed it didn’t really matter because you pulled a “reset day” card and you just had to endure. You can see how this entire thing just doesn’t really mesh well with what God says about this type of thing in his Word.

Usually, I could identify a “reset day” pretty early on, which meant that whenever anything bad would happen I would say, “Yup, there’s another one…I knew it was a reset day.” I even dragged my wife into this type of thinking. She’s told me before that she was having a reset day.

If you think about it, this entire concept of the “reset day” is either dishonoring to God or completely defeatist in nature….or both.

The Bible says in Psalm 118:24 “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Now if I’m running around thinking that I got dished up a “bad day” then I’m completely denying the truth of this passage. Also, any day that we are walking with The Lord should be acknowledged as a “great day”…if I feel that the day is so crappy that I need to rush through it to get to the end I’m contradicting with my life what I say I believe with my mouth.

The other possibility (worse even than the previous concept) is that God has singled me out for meaningless persecution for the day and that He has lined everything up in such a way that it all goes wrong at the same time. How rediculous. Then you extend the false idea by twisting Romans 8:28 which says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” by saying to yourself that God is just letting himself off the hook for throwing me through the ringer because it’s, of course, “all for my good”.

I think it’s important to see how small, personal “philosophies” like this can take hold in anyone’s life and lead to a terrible end. Namely, the dishonoring and misrepresentation of The Lord.

The truth is that all things DO work together for the ultimate good of those who love The Lord. Each and every day really IS good and we SHOULD rejoice in it. If I start harboring throughts and attitudes such as this then what I’m doing is telling God that I don’t believe that He is who He says He is! I’m saying he’s a mean old man who’s fickle and sadistic and never was able to mature to a level where He no longer gets his jollies out of burning the homosapien ants of this world with his cosmic magnifying glass.

Such thoughts not only do not bring honor to The Lord, but they actually do the opposite and dishonor him. It really makes me wonder how many other, seemingly harmless, attitudes I’ve been building up over the years.

I’d like to wrap this up on a positive note that proves that there are no such thing as “reset days” except in our own minds. My wife told me that her mother called all excited today. My in-laws have been on vacation in FL and they have been witnessing someone in the condo next to them for the past week or so that they’ve been there. Today they preached the word from The Bible, asked him if he would accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, and he said he did. He prayed for mercy, forgiveness, and grace, and today was born again into the family of God Himself. The work of The Lord in salvation is active in every so-called “bad day”.

The next time it seems like you are having a day that is so bad that it’s just a “reset day” remember that on that very day God is not just saving one or two people, but HUNDREDS of people each and every day are being saved by His grace. Ask The Lord to give you a gratefulness for what he is doing in OTHER people’s lives…even if it doesn’t seem like much good is showing up in your own. Ask Him to strengthen your faith and give you a clear understanding of His goodness so that you won’t harbor false ideas about His person. And finally, ask Him to empower you to fulfill your ultimate purpose so that you can glorify Him.

Never the less, I’m going to continue on the intended path. I’m tempted to “bear down” right now and spend the next six months just studying this power-packed book. Of course, there are only so many hours in the day and such a course would mean that I would have to sacrifice the study of other books in order to focus on this one. Since that’s not the general idea for this pattern of bible study, I’m going to stick to the original plan.

Here is the quick study outline that can be used to memorize the major themes of this set of chapters:

Here are some links to the Super Study resources to take your learning a bit further:

As is typical, I’ll be adding insights I’ve gleaned from my personal Bible study time in this section of scripture in the comments section below. If you want to add your own thoughts or comments, feel free to do so and I’ll make sure they show up asap.