I sought. He saved.

I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Jeremiah 29:14

There is a lot concerning Israel being promised in this verse. I am careful to note that the restoration referred to here in this prophecy has a multi-faceted way to be understood. There is a sense to the original audience, a sense to a bigger future plan for Israel, and also a principle that helps me analyze my own experiences.

First, to Jeremiah’s original audience there is hope after judgement upon their disastrous idolatry and sinful rejection of God. Yes, a nation would be exiled to Babylon for 70 years after a horrific siege of Jerusalem. But God assures them He would lead them back after that experience. And they would once again seek Him. He would restore them.

Secondly, the clear broader language that speaks about exiles scattered “to all the places I have driven you” indicates that a second, yet-to-be-realized restoration that affects a worldwide Diaspora of Jews is yet to come. There is a global return to God among professing Jews… a trust in Him that will compel them to return to the physical land of Israel. That is happening and yet to be completed.

Finally, a principle to help me understand my circumstances: In my awareness of needing God I will “find Him”. But it is actually God who does so much more than I do in pursuing Him. He pursues me! God restores. God re-gathers. God brings me back to peace and safety. I must submit, but God does the saving. I must seek, but God does the transforming of my heart and my life. It is all God’s work for His glory! He restores my soul! He gets the credit! God deserves the praise!

restoration for a weary prophet

Therefore thus says the LORD:

“If you return, I will restore you,

and you shall stand before me.

If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,

you shall be as my mouth.

They shall turn to you,

but you shall not turn to them.”

Jeremiah 15:19

God promises to use His disillusioned and dejected prophet. Jeremiah faced opposition to the Word of God that he had faithfully preached. He lamented this to God, wishing he had never been born (Jeremiah 15:10). This is what we would call depression, by the way. He prayed for God to act on his behalf (Jeremiah 15:15). He readily and joyfully embraced the words of prophecy that God gave him to speak (Jeremiah 15:16). He separated himself from the evil that God was going to eventually judge (Jeremiah 15:17). And yet the persecution against him increased and for Jeremiah God felt absent… life felt dry (Jeremiah 15:18). Why did his obedience lead to such pain and increased hatred? It didn’t make sense.

God spoke four promises to His weary prophet that restored him back to ministry power and purpose:

1.  “I will restore if you return.” Jeremiah needed to just trust God again. God would do the rest.

2.  “You shall stand before me.” God would be the audience Jeremiah sought to please. God would the prophet’s support.

3.  “You shall be my mouth.” God would speak, not Jeremiah, words of precious truth to combat the worthless way the prophet currently felt. So God would be ultimately responsible for the results since these were HIS words.

4. “They shall turn to you.” The prophet would be heard as his focus was on God, not the people.

And so, when our eyes are not myopically self-centered in our personal experience, when our hopes are not dependent upon the response of other people, when our worth is measured by the God Who made us to serve Him, we can trust that a God with a much bigger periphery than our own will use us… even if we feel worthless… even if our lives seem dry. It isn’t about us! It is all about the God Who renews, saves, and restores for His glory!

5 restoring promises

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;

I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners.

Isaiah 57:18

It is important to know just who the “I” and the “him” are in this verse. The “I” is God. He describes Himself as “the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy” in Isaiah 57:15. The “him” in this verse is the person who is repentant, also described in Isaiah 57:15 as “him who is of contrite and lowly spirit”. God loves to restore those broken in their sin and sadness who are ready to confess and forsake sin!

I see that there are five unique promises that the Lord makes to whose who humbly come to Him in repentance with broken hearts. These promises bring encouragement especially as we experience them in full measure through the gospel today!

• God promises that He sees us. No repentance goes unknown. God sees and responds.
• God promises to heal us. Sin damages, diseases, and destroys. God’s mercy and grace bring us back to spiritual and emotional health.
• God promises to lead us. A new direction from God’s Word and His Holy Spirit guides the repentant heart.
• God promises to comfort us. Sin and the circumstances of our sinfulness and loss in a broken world will grieve us and break us down. God comforts us.
• God promises to comfort those who hurt with us. This is the unexpected aspect of His mercy. God promises to bring His healing perspective to those who grieve with us, to comfort all who mourn, to restore all who hurt and who need healing. He brings true hope again! Amen!

Make me live.

O Lord, by these things men live,

and in all these is the life of my spirit.

Oh restore me to health and make me live!

Behold, it was for my welfare

that I had great bitterness;

but in love you have delivered my life

from the pit of destruction,

for you have cast all my sins

behind your back.

Isaiah 38:16-17

The Lord has purposes for our good, even in our most profoundly painful experiences. And what tastes most bitter in our tears is turned sweeter than honey by Christ’s saving grace. God always has the welfare of His beloved in mind, even in our most difficult losses. And He can and will restore in love, delivering us from the worst we know in life’s downturns AND the worst things we do in our sin.

I have been in a season of fervent prayer, begging for deliverance that would lead me to know a comforting level of peace and security that I lost when death robbed me of a the best part of my daily life. My emotional, physical, and spiritual health shattered. But I can rejoice today for God has moved and made me live again! I see now that an intense season of suffering was used to trim me down, build me up, help me trust in real ways I never would have done, taught me to relate and to feel life anew, and through it all God has loved me well and led me to love well. And in a “needle in a haystack” sort of way, God has answered my prayers for restoration. Most importantly, God has shown me how much I should appreciate my true deliverance… not just from grief… but from the finality of the grave.

God, You have cast all my sins behind Your back and I am new in Christ! Jesus, You bore my sorrows so that I never sorrowed alone. And as my welfare has been restored, I rejoice! You wisely led me to thrive even as I felt dry and dying at times. That was a feeling but Your deliverance was the fact all along. You make me live! Hallelujah! Amen.

two pictures of restoration

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,

like streams in the Negeb!

Those who sow in tears

shall reap with shouts of joy!

Psalm 126:4-5

God restores with a clear new difference that changes everything. The two poetic images that stand out in these two verses remind us that God brings dramatic change when we are broken and hurting… if we will patiently endure.

The first image evokes needed refreshment and renewal. New streams flow through a desert landscape. Cool flowing waters in the wasteland are a precious, life-giving supply. God, in restoring us, is that pleasant surprise! He waters what was once dry. He revives a thirsty soul. He quenches our deepest needs with cool, clear, sustaining waters of grace and mercy. And beside the streams of His renewal, supplied miraculously in the desert, we can thrive by His sustaining presence! O God, I thank You for such streams that have come to me in my desert. The landscape now blooms with Your gracious supply to me. Jesus gave this to me by giving His life so that my life is made new.

The second image is of a harvest of joy. But the seeds of sorrow are first sown. This image reminds us that there are seasons where we sow in our sadness and loss. It hurts. And then we must wait for what may feel like a long time. We plant seeds of grief, watered by our tears and desperate prayers. God, Who is beside us all the time as we have sown and as we wait, then brings about an abundant harvest of unfathomable joy. He transforms by His restorative work our pain into praise, our sorrow into joy, our grief into rejoicing! God, this harvest I am now starting to see brought into my life, is clearly Your work alone. I planted painfully the seeds of sorrow. I am amazed at the new joy Your mercies have brought to me. It has been worth the wait. And with shouts of joy, I worship the God Who is faithful to restore with a new harvest to me.

restoration and revival

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation toward us!

Will you not revive us again,

that your people may rejoice in you?

Psalm 85:4, 6

When God does His saving work, He restores a relationship broken by our sin. He restores us in love even though our sin was worthy of His anger. He looks upon Jesus Who bore all God’s wrath in our judgment on the cross, and He lifts us, unworthy sinners though we are, to be His children… to be loved family now… recipients of mercy, grace, and restored relationship.

The God Who restores in salvation also lovingly restores in circumstances. He comforts the broken-hearted. He breaks the chains of captivity. He tears down the wall of hostility and releases those once hostage to sin’s suffering. He restores us again!

And this psalm reminds us that God cares not just about our spiritual condition, but also our emotional state. He revives the spirits of the souls He restores. Restoration and revival walk us hand-in-hand into the presence of a loving Father… they lead us, by Jesus, to not only be forgiven, but to feel the joy of revived life and restored fellowship. This is a relationship we know and feel. It moves us. Christians are on a long journey home, but it is a road of joy, renewal, grace, and revival. Restoration and revival are my soul’s growing place even as Jesus keeps leading me home to the Father step by step each day. Thank You, Lord!

Restoration’s Light

Restore us, O God of hosts;

let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Psalm 80:7

my life grew grim

my light grew dim

sorrow and pain

clouds and rain

I saw faint light

through that stormy night

I needed to see

where You would be

amidst chaos and shaking

What were You making?

in the darkness I waited

dawn anticipated

Your face like sunshine

dispelled those clouds of mine

hope dawned a new day

as You began a new way

of working in my heart

a new direction to start

You restored blue skies

and much to my surprise

joy came in the morning

You ended my mourning

with Your smiling face

poured out love and grace

Saved from sin, loss, and sorrow

to a bright hope for tomorrow

I call now on Your name

and I praise God’s great fame

in Your power outpoured 

my life is now restored!