God Will Restore!

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!  Stir up your strength, and come and save us!  Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved! Psalm 80:1, 2b-3

This morning when I was preparing to read the word, the Holy Spirit led me to the 80^th Psalm.  As I began reading, I realized it is a prayer and cry for restoration.  I knew God was reminding me of His promise to restore everything lost.   I was reminded of what I had gone through a few years ago when I was working in a fine jewelry store.  One evening as my coworker and I were going about our daily routine, we looked out the front window and noticed the weather changing.  It was very dark and unusually windy.  Within minutes the glass windows began to shake from the force of the high winds, and before we knew it we were securing the store and running for cover. We didn't know it, but a tornado was about to touch down in our city.
We prayed and asked God to protect us and the store, and we were both very thankful when the storm passed over.  None of the glass was broken, and God kept us safe and secure in a dangerous situation.  Needless to say, we were anxious to leave work and get home to our families.  

As I was driving home I saw large trees completely uprooted from the ground and broken limbs were everywhere.  As I approached my neighborhood it looked like a war zone; there was debris everywhere.  I was happy to find my husband and son safe at home.  My husband and I took decided to take a look around the property, and we saw shingles from the roof laying on the ground.  The roof had been damaged but we really didn’t know to what extent.  The next morning we begin to notice the paint buckling on walls of our family room, which indicated that water had seeped in from the roof, so we immediately called our insurance agent to report that we had been through a storm, and she sent someone out to access the damage.

Sometimes the storms of life suddenly hit us and leave us wondering if we will ever recover. These storms are designed to shake the very foundation of our faith and leave us hopeless and full of despair; but God always causes us to triumph in Christ.  He allows the storms to come, but He protects us through them.  He always works everything together for our good, and not only that, He will restore all that we’ve lost in the storm.  Just like the insurance adjuster had to assess the damage to my home, when we come through the storms of life we need to take time to assess the damage that has been done.  This is not for the sake of feeling discouraged by what has happened, but to take note of what has been lost or stolen so that we can report it to God and pray for His restoration in our lives. 

 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust My great army which I sent among you.  You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame.”

Joel 2:25, 26

After the damage had been assessed on our home, the insurance company issued a check to cover the cost of restoring our home to the way it was supposed to be.   In fact, we didn’t just have the roof repaired, we got a brand new roof.  And we didn’t get just get the damaged wall repainted, the painters did all the entire area surrounding the wall that had been damaged.  It was like being in a new home.  When God restores, He makes things better than they were before.  What seemed like sudden destruction in my life was really a blessing in disguise.  Your storm my not be caused by a natural disaster, maybe you're in a financial storm.  Or maybe you've been suffering and need to be restored to good health.  Or maybe your storm is in the area of your marriage and family, or some other significant relationship.  Whatever the case may be, my point is - we all go through storms.  No matter what kind of storm we face, God wants to restore.  

The word tells us, From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force, Matthew 11:12.  When we go through the storms of life, we can’t just sit back and feel sorry for ourselves, we must be determined to take back what whatever we've lost!  Once we have assessed the damage, we must rise up and cry out for restoration.  If my husband and I had not called and reported that our home had been damaged in a storm,  we would have never experience the beauty of restoration.   

Have you been through a storm and suffered loss?  If so, have you assessed the damage?   Take time to look around you and make a list of everything you have lost, then pray and ask God to restore all.  I’m standing in faith with you that God will restore everything you've lost in the storm, and make your life better than it was before.  

Kathy