Restore
Restore
Life has changed over the last year for most people worldwide. Some are not sure if they can start anew. Or how do we pick up the pieces in the face of immeasurable loss?
Whether a family member has passed away, the shuttering of a business, or recovering from isolation, there is one thing I know for sure; God is Faithful. Faithful to restore. Faithful, to start something new. God is faithful to carry us when we cannot stand on our own. Faithful to restore the brokenhearted.
We're beginning to immerge from lockdowns, quarantines, isolation, illness, kid's distance or remote learning, parents working from home, and families just beginning to be able to reach out to one another.
We were not created to be alone. We were created to be in a relationship with God and with one another.
For some of us; we feel like we have been in a wilderness and yet others, a flat-out wasteland, alone in our pain and loss. Zoom does not replace the human touch and interaction that face-to-face in the flesh provides. Isolation can be devasting. And although we can make sacrifices for a time, we all need to have an end in sight.
And there is an end in sight!
Yes, the guidelines, rules, and directives are starting to change and ease the isolation and masks. But those are only part of the recovery, restoration, or renewal. The need is much greater than a bandage on a scraped knee or getting out and doing some everyday things again. There are times it takes much more than we have internal or external resources to bring to bear. There are wounds where some people have lost everything. Some businesses won't come back. Loved ones that they didn't get to say goodbye to, face to face. It has been a rough year in which to try to recover.
But God is faithful when we trust Him. God's faithfulness is something I can promise. It is the story of my life, God's faithfulness to me. It doesn't mean that hard things won't happen. Jesus said they would in the Gospel of John.
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
John 16:33 English Standard Version ESV
It is not what happens to us or around us that matters. It is what we do in the midst of it all that means everything. It comes down to "thriving" or "striving" in the midst of all that the world brings our way.
The apostle Paul, who faced incredible challenges tells us this:
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
Romans 5:1-6
When I think of what people face today, the picture I see in my mind that seems to fit how we feel or felt is in Ezekiel 37, "The Valley of the Dry Bones." Maybe more like fried or frizzled bones fits our description, wondering what life will be like. What will our new normal be?
I can relate.
Pondering the word restore over and over, I realized it doesn't just refer to physical or material things. It refers to the spiritual, emotional, and mental areas of our life as well. It can also refer to friendships and dreams.
It can mean restoring our relationship with God and others. It can mean restoring our faith in ourselves as we depend on God. All of this is to bring glory to God, showing who He is and His faithfulness to us. We remember the times we thought we couldn't, and with God's help, we did. Thus, our taking note of the hard times in our lives, when we trusted God that we become; stronger, better rather than bitter, we overcame instead of being overcome. It is in remembering those times that we gain strength and hope for today.
In another passage in Isaiah says, in essence, God did this before for us when we were struggling, don't get stuck on the struggle because I'm doing a new thing. Watch!
Here are Isaiah's words:
"This is what the Lord says, He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it and I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
Isaiah 43: 16-19 New International Version (NIV)
In our letting go, remembering but no longer clinging to the past, we can see God is laying out the future.
As a result of our struggles and loss, we can see things differently. Values are often adjusted our perspective changes. When we grasp God's faithfulness, we then know that we can thrive amid pain and loss, not depending on our strength, wisdom, and love but God's. Where we have felt weak, He becomes our strength. Where we have run out of hope, He assures us we are not alone. The Holy Spirit is with us in the good and the hard places of our lives. He is our strength when we are weak. He is our hope in times of trouble. The Holy Spirit reminds us, "who we are and whose we are" in the center of our world and all it represents.
