The God of Restoration

 

The Lord responded to his people, “Look! I am about to restore your grain as well as fresh wine and olive oil. You will be fully satisfied. I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.  

 First off, I need to address the elephant in the room. God’s sense of time is very different from ours. In this verse He says he is about to. In Revelation 22 verses 7, 12 and 20 Jesus says that He is coming soon. But remember that to God a day is like 1,000 years and 1,000 years are like a day (2 Peter 3:8). God is outside of time and is not governed by it. He may have done the thing right when it was written thousands of years ago, but He placed it in our timeline for thousands of years from now. Only He know and His timing is perfect, that is what we have to trust in!

 Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’m excited to write today about restoration. This is a concept near and dear to my heart as I’ve experienced some level of calamity in my life and have held close God’s restorative promises. Some of these are not given specifically to me, but they are examples of the goodness of my God and the hope I can have in Him.

 Starting with today’s verse, God is promising Israel that He will restore their grain as well as their fresh wine and olive oil. To them this represented both provision of need and blessing of luxuries. This is not glass of water, crust of bread stuff! He goes on to say that they will be fully satisfied. For the Israelites’ history, this means something. Think back to their time in the wilderness in Exodus. One thing after another dissatisfied them, they wanted meat, they were unfamiliar with God’s provision of manna and didn’t trust its continued presence, they thought they would die of thirst. Over and over again they expressed dissatisfaction with what God had given them. But here He says that they will be fully satisfied!  He also says that He will not longer make them an object of mockery among the nations which is what tells me this is a future promise. As I’m sure you’re aware Israel has suffered more than it’s share of disdain. We have a whole phrase for it in our language, Antisemitism. There is no word for hating on Irish people or Italians. Just Jews. But God has not forsaken Israel and has good plans for them, as we will see in some of these verses.

Job 42:10  So the LORD restored what Job had lost after he prayed for his friends, and the LORD doubled all that had belonged to Job.

 The story of Job, which can be found in the book by the same name, is a heart breaking one. In one day Job loses all of his wealth of animals (7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 female donkeys) in addition to his ten grown children and most of his servants. All that were left were the ones who ran to tell him of the devastation. Finally, Job’s health itself was taken away and he was left with sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. His friends were no help and his wife was worse, admonishing him to, “Curse God and die.” He lost it all, and what he had left made life worse instead of better. But in all of this, Job honors God. He says, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. May the name of the LORD be blessed!" You see, God was making a point – to Satan and to us – that our treasure should be in Him alone. When we have God, we have all we need! Job helped him to prove that point and when Job got to the breaking point, God spoke to him and straightened him out. He reminded Job that God himself is in control of all things and knows all things and will do what He knows is best even when it doesn’t make sense to us. He is not bound by our limited minds and understanding. But He is all powerful and we can trust Him. Once Job prayed for the forgiveness of his friends who had spoken against God’s truth, God poured out His blessing on Job and made him prosperous once again. He lived 140 more years and ended up with double the property he had before and ten new kids who gave him grandkids and great grandkids and great great grandkids before he died!

Psalm 51:12  Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance! Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey!

 In this verse the psalmist is looking for restoration. He wants to experience that amazing feeling of God’s deliverance, His great and wonderful provision in his life again. This seems to be something that he has experienced before and so he trusts in God’s ability to do it, and longs to experience it once more. He knows that obedience is a key part of this process and asks God to give him the desire to obey. Where the psalmist is at, he doesn’t even feel like doing the right things, but he wants to. He wants to want to please God. It’s a starting point, and if we can find ourselves in this same place and reach out to God, He can restore our hearts and give us desires that please Him.

Zechariah 9:12  Return to the stronghold, you prisoners, with hope; today I declare that I will return double what was taken from you.

 The prisoners have been released, the captives set free, or at least the prophet is telling them that one day it will happen. They can return home with hope. They are not just returning to a devastated land in which they will likely die of starvation or thirst. God promises that He will return to them, like He did for Job, double what was taken from them.

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know what I have planned for you,' says the LORD. 'I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.

 This classic verse is one that many have claimed for themselves, that God promised to the exiled Jews. While it was given specifically to them, I believe it shows the heart of God for His children and reveals the truth that He has plans for us. His plans are good and are intended to prosper us. Hebrews 12:11 reminds us that, “Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it.” The Jews probably didn’t feel like 70 years of exile was a good plan, but ultimately God knew that it was what they needed to come back to Him and restore their country to a people that followed Him. Just like the Jews, we often can’t see the goodness of God’s plan in the midst of hardship. But what we can trust in is the goodness of God and know that He loves us beyond measure. Our Heavenly Father will give us exactly what we need, even when it’s not what we want!

Jeremiah 30:17  Yes, I will restore you to health. I will heal your wounds. I, the LORD, affirm it! For you have been called an outcast, Zion, whom no one cares for."

 This verse is near and dear to my heart. Again, I acknowledge that this promise was to the Jews and not directed to myself, but it shows my Father’s heart for those He loves, which includes me! No one on earth can restore my health. I have been told over and over and over again, “You have this diagnosis and there is no cure.” I have Lyme disease as well as several chronic infections that came with it. I have a genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which literally is in my DNA and thus cannot be changed by earthly means along with a couple of it’s comorbidities: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Dysautonomia. I have a brain tumor that is located in a place that cannot be removed surgically and is not eligible for any type of chemotherapy. Radiation will slow its growth, but not shrink it. My only hope is in the LORD. He has good plans for me. I trust that He will restore my health, even if that means in a heavenly body that I will get to live in for eternity with Him. In that day, all the years of living with these conditions will fade and be like a distant memory that only serves to make the gifts of my Heavenly Father that much sweeter.

Acts 3:19-21  Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you - that is, Jesus. This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets.

 And so we are called to repentance. I believe we are called to this for ourselves, for our own sins, as well as those bodies to whom we belong: our church, our nation, etc. We are to be a part of a movement of repentance, drawing others along with us, that we all might be made right with God. He is not willing that any should perish, but desires us all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). And it starts with us. Those to whom He has given the knowledge, and burdened with His love for the world, He asks to act.

1 Peter 5:10  And, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

 Remember, God’s view of time is different than ours! He lives in the eternity that we will someday share with Him. One day, we will look back and see that we suffered for a little while. Years will become moments. Pain will make sense. And in Jesus we will be restored, confirmed, strengthened and established. What a day of rejoicing that will be!

Revelation 21:1-5  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city - the new Jerusalem - descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: "Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more - or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist." And the one seated on the throne said: "Look! I am making all things new!" Then he said to me, "Write it down, because these words are reliable and true."

 And this is that day. A New Jerusalem. And in that place, God will dwell among us, as He did in the Garden. He will wipe away every tear and death will not exist anymore. There will be no mourning or crying or PAIN. No more pain! All the former things will have ceased to exist and He will make all things new. These words are reliable and true!

Here’s the Thing: Our God is a God of restoration. He’s all about making things new, restoring them to their original design. When God made us, His creation was good and perfect. Sin entered in and muddied things: breeding infection, introducing faulty DNA, creating generational issues, forming addictions. In His perfect way, In His perfect timing, God will restore us to the original intention of His design. We will be like Him because we will see Him (1 John 3:2).