Restoration Belongs to You!

Where are you in your walk with Jesus today? Do you feel the intimacy and closeness that He desires for the both of you? Or, is there something that has grown up between you—maybe unconfessed sin or habitual sin or too much worldly influence in your life? Maybe you have simply drifted away? Your prayer life has dwindled and you rarely, if ever, spend time in fellowship and communion with Him? Maybe you have lost all sense of intimacy with Him and you are not even sure if you can ever get it back?

A great many Christians are walking around through life today simply surviving. The fellowship they once had with Jesus has waned and faded from their daily existence. Their own personal failures have led them to see themselves as failures before God leading to these feelings. Maybe I am talking to you today? Maybe you long to be back in relationship with Jesus? Maybe you feel there is no hope?

Following their release from Egyptian captivity, the Israelites wondered to and from their relationship with God. As you read the adventures of these people, you wonder how and why God would even continue to give them another chance. It seemed every time they ventured away from God, their trip took them a bit further than before.

By the time Jeremiah came on the scene, their rebellion and sin had become so offensive to God that His judgment was imminent. Why did God let them go so far? Why didn’t He just cut them off completely earlier on? Why did He continue to put up with their antics and forgive them when they pleaded for mercy?

Jeremiah 30 closes with the gavel being dropped as the Lord proclaims: “Look, a storm from the Lord! Wrath has gone forth. A churning storm, it will whirl about the head of the wicked. The Lord’s burning anger will not turn back until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart” (vv. 23-24 HCSB).

But even before He pronounces judgment, He promises restoration. God proclaims: “I will bring you health and will heal you of your wounds… I will certainly restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents…You will be My people, and I will be your God” (vv. 17,18,22).

Following the pronouncement, the Lord promises: “Look, the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…I will place My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people” (Jeremiah 31:31,33).

How can such a thing be? How can God restore a nation back to Himself that has shaken its fist in His face, cursed His name and chased after every other god the world had to offer? What kind of love, mercy and grace is it that flows from the heart of God to allow Him to act in such a marvelous way?

The same grace and mercy that saves us, that redeems us from the penalty of our sins and that reconciles us back to Him. That same mercy that restores us when we venture away from Him and chase after the ways of the world. Notice His words and feel His heart in verse 3: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.”

God’s love and mercy are beyond our human ability to comprehend but evident throughout Scripture and in our own lives. As we look at the condition of our own lives, our churches and our nation, we wonder why God continues to shed His grace upon us; but, we come to understand that it is His heart of love that motivates Him to do so.

I don’t know where you are today or what you need in your life, but God knows and God cares. His love is everlasting and ever-enduring and faithful unto You—regardless. God desires to restore you back into fellowship with Himself. He loves You with an everlasting love. He is not interested in your past; He is interested in your future. He is interested not only in your future here on this earth but your eternal future with Him in heaven.

Turn back to Him today. Allow His Spirit to overwhelm you with His love and to draw you from your life of failures back to a life of victory in and through His Son, Jesus Christ. Discover God’s restoration today! His restoration belongs to you!

Scripture Reading: “Listen, Shepherd of Israel, who guides Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned on the cherubim, rise up…Rally Your power and come to save us. Restore us, God; look on us with favor, and we will be saved…Return, God of Hosts. Look down from heaven and see; take care of this vine, the root Your right hand has planted, the shoot that You made strong for Yourself. It was cut down and burned up; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. Let Your hand be with the man at Your right hand, with the son of man You have made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name. Restore us, Lord God of Hosts; look [on us] with favor, and we will be saved” (Psalm 80 HCSB).

Personal Prayer: Father in heaven, I have wandered from You. I feel so lost without Your strength and power, without Your guidance and direction. Please restore me to the place I once was in You. Forgive me for my failures; forgive me for my past ways and bring about a complete restoration that I may once again find myself cradled safely and securely in Your arms of love and protection. I love You and praise You for Your unfailing love, for never giving up on me, for always being there just for me. I praise You in all things…in Jesus’ name…AMEN!