God will restore.

…then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

Deuteronomy 30:3

Last week I completed a three year chronological reading and reflection on the Bible. Before I begin a new Bible Reading Plan later this summer, I want to do an extended study on the concepts of restoration and renewal in scripture. I imagine it will take me most of this spring and a big chunk of summer to finish. And I have personal reasons to do so. The last half of the chronological study I just finished was interrupted by a season of grief and intense personal loss. To survive, I found myself diving into God’s Word for understanding. I studied lament. I studying what it meant to “wait on God”. I emerged from those studies with hope again and then recommitted to finishing the chronological reading of scripture.

God now has me in a new season of life. I am seeing love restored. I am seeing hope restored. I am seeing joy returning to me in ways I would not have imagined before. God is regathering my soul from a scattered exile of sorts. And I am truly grateful. I want to dig into scripture to understand this renewal. Restoration is actually a major concept in the Bible, especially in the story of Israel in the Old Covenant, but also in the gospel truth of the New Testament. 

And so I embark on this new study, in a new time, with new purpose, filled with new hope. A God Who restores, renews, and showers mercy and grace on me will gather me to Himself as I learn even more about how He restores souls and rebuilds lives for His glory! Restore my fortunes and have mercy on me, O God!