I love the word restored as it makes me think of something that is completely broken and ugly being made new and beautiful. I don’t know what images you think of when you think of something being restored, but I often think of an old car that is rusty the engine doesn’t work anymore, there are broken windows and flat tires, but somebody see’s the possibility of beauty in that car and is willing to invest time and money in order to restore it to what it once was.
We are like that car, life has been maybe been hard, we had to deal with rejection and pain in our lives, people have hurt us and we are now broken and feeling hopeless. But God sees beauty where we see ashes, and God is looking to restore us to what he created and designed us to be, and as I ponder this word restoration, and begin to understand more and more of what we were designed and created for, God has given me a new perspective, that God uses all things including suffering and difficult times in our lives to bring about restoration, And old car needs to be dismantled and some things need to be taken apart, or completely removed, and this can be a difficult process, but as God begins to change my perspective and helps me see it from his perspective, that all this is to bring about restoration in my life, to align me with him, to restore my relationship with him, so that I can have intimacy with him once again, which brings about true and authentic worship to him, as there is nothing hidden between God and I. Difficulties help us see our need of God, it exposes our self-righteousness ,suffering draws out what is inside us. And when we trust that God is a Restoring God it help us surrender those things to God so that he can bring healing and restoration and restore that Intimacy with him.
Restoration is the work of the Holy Spirit. We can’t just will restoration into existence; it requires supernatural heart-change. Over 500 years before the birth of Christ, God gave this powerful promise of restoration through the prophet Ezekiel. God promised that he would make us totally clean and that he would change our hearts. All of this happens only through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Shortly after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church (Acts 2). The Holy Spirit is still here working in the lives of believers all over the world. The Holy Spirit takes the work that Jesus accomplished on the cross and applies that power to our lives, enabling us to become what God created and designed us for.
I want to encourage you to mediate on Psalms 23 this year and see and trust in all the ways that God restores your soul. So that the joy of your salvation will be restored and your spirit will strengthened in this year.
Blessing
Matt Zook
Comments