The God of Restoration
God is a creator God. To things that are not, He speaks a word, and they become. He can speak existence into a void, light into darkness, hope into despair.
But God is also a God of restoration. He takes things that are, and are broken and makes them right again, makes them whole again. So it is with our salvation. He took something very battered and broken and graciously, by His Spirit, breathed new life into it.
That moment initiated this journey in which we find ourselves. Sometimes we travel well and sometimes not. There are days when we meet life head on, with all it has to offer, and walk out on the other side on top of it all. But then there are those days. You know the ones I mean. The days when we walk a fine line between survival and existence. Those days when it seems as if our only options are fight, fright or flight.
Those days when the hits just keep on coming, and I don't mean tunes. But the walk continues.
The scripture says in Hebrews 12:1 that we should “lay aside every weight, and sin that clings so closely to us.” This speaks of not just sin, but the day to day “inconsequentials” that burden us down and wear us out. The little things we pick up along the way, that then, stack up over time. The things that seemingly have no eternal value, but still have a significant impact on our spiritual quality of life. There are times when we accumulate so much “baggage” that it makes the journey that much harder. Things like anger, bitterness, disappointment, frustration, discouragement and unforgiveness. Finally, we come to a point where we say, “I need help.”
Enter the God of restoration.
He brings with Him hope and joy and peace and fulfillment. He is there to restore and make new. "Casting all your care on Him, because He cares for you."
He moves up under the burden with us and says, "let's keep moving."
This thing of deliverance and restoration is vital to the fulfillment of the Christian life. Even as a child of God we still have broken parts of our lives that we have not turned over to Him. Parts that need to be fixed, some over and over again. We all need a “do over” ever so often. How fortunate we are that
God is a gracious God, a God who restores.
What better way to illustrate such patience and grace than in Jeremiah 18:4:
“His hands were shaping a pot out of clay. But he saw that something was wrong with it. So he formed it into another pot. He shaped it in the way that seemed best to him.”
Notice that the potter didn’t abandon His creation or discard it, quite the contrary, He restored it.
To pick up all these pieces that we call life, and put them in God’s hands, the potter's hands, will require trust. Trust is not an easy thing because it requires first giving up. God will restore that which He possesses, that which surrenders.
If we are to ever fulfill God’s call in our lives, these lives of ours will need mending, they will need repair, they will need restoration.
He is a God of restoration.