With the political climate, I was thinking of not posting this week. Rumors running around of imminent blackouts, big tech companies put under the microscope, high profile arrests to be made, servers pulled to censor freedom of speech, and even some emergency alert systems being turned off to further censor our president in his remaining time in office. All good reasons to take the week to simply hunker down and enjoy my family. Then I realized that it is also the perfect opportunity to share what has been laid on my heart because God might use this to encourage someone. Makes it totally worth it. Especially with the topic of restoration. If you missed last week’s post, I encourage you to take a look: Context of Restoration.
Restoration can take on so many appearances. Restoring health, restoring reputation, and restoring relationships are just a few ways restoration can be seen. I’ve experienced all of those – plus more, and I challenge you to take a look at your life to inspect your restoration experiences. I would wager that you’ve experienced restoration more often than you may recognize at first glance, while other instances are more than blatant. Before we delve deeper into God’s restoration, I would be remiss if I didn’t first solidify God’s intent towards His children. Too often we take on Job’s stance of blaming God for the “give and take away” we often experience in life. Sure, it’s scriptural, so it must be true… but scripture does not contradict scripture. All too often we tend to spiritualize when we don’t get our way, making statements like “This suffering is God’s will…” or “God brought me this storm to teach me something…” and another popular one of “the Bible says we’re going to suffer…” Sound familiar?
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)
In this world… All throughout the New Testament, we’re warned that, as believers, we’re going to experience troubles, suffering, and/or hardships. Some Christians even go so far to say that if you don’t experience anything adverse, then you must not be a very good Christian. To that, I respond that not every Christian responds to hardships and suffering the same way. We also don’t classify experiences the same way. As we were traveling from Alaska to North Carolina during our big move, we came upon, what I would classify as, troubles, hardships, and the like. My husband classified the same situations as adventures. I can look at them now and see the adventure in them, but at the time, I was downright stressed! Check it out and let me know what you think – adventure or hardship? Forever Favored Series
Some hardships are met with tears, stress, and even anger. Why, God? Why? A negative medical report is met with fear and searching for answers from earthly sources. Financial hardships come and we, naturally, look to the natural – forgetting, even momentarily, that God is our source and provider. We tend to forget that doctors, employers, auto mechanics, financial institutions, and politicians have not (and never will) overcome the world.
The first four letters in the word “Restoration” spell out REST. I see this as vitally important in receiving restoration and recognizing it when it stares us in the face. My husband was able to, in the moment, see the hardships in our move as adventures because he was resting in God. He knew God hadn’t fallen off His throne. I had to take some deep breaths before lightning struck my cranium and I recognized that all was going to be okay (a favorite phrase from the Forest of Favor post has been “But did you die?”) The point is that each one of us chooses how to handle the hardships, troubles, and suffering according to our faith. This is in no way a knock on anyone. This goes back to what we choose to focus on. Are we seeking out answers from the world or are we seeking the answers from God?
Faith is defined in the Oxford dictionary as complete trust or confidence. If I were to ask any Christian if they had faith in God, the vast majority of the time they would say yes. But when bad things happen, those same people (I’m lumping myself in this one, too) tend to crumble under the weight of the pressure and ask, “Why, God? Why?” That doesn’t seem like complete trust or confidence. Our actions speak louder than words – that’s true in every situation. What does this have to do with our focus?
I’ve written before about the old saying of garbage in; garbage out, and it very much applies to feeding our faith. If we’re to completely trust, or have complete confidence in, the One who overcame the world, then we need to get to know Him more than we get to know the world. His answers are what matters. His promises we can stand on. Our true restoration can only come from Him. In this world… we can have peace. We can have peace in the political unrest. We can have peace with viruses and diseases. We can have peace when our financial state is in ruins. We can have peace even if we have to close our businesses. We can have peace even when we receive a negative medical report. Why, God? Why? Because the One who overcame the world said it, and we either have complete trust / confidence in His Word, or we don’t. So how do we get there? How do we achieve the restoration we so thoroughly desire?
“Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.'” John 6:29 (NIV)
If it were a to-do list in order to achieve anything with God – including restoration, then there would be no point in Jesus dying on the cross. Just like how we love because He first loved us (I John 4:19), we are responding to what He has already done and provided! That means the restoration is already there! We can, because He did! And restoration is more than what we may assume at first. From the Oxford dictionary, restoration can be defined as:
- the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition
- the process of repairing or renovating… so as to restore it to its original condition
- the reinstatement of a previous practice, right, custom, or situation
- the return of a hereditary monarch to a throne, a head of state to government, a regime to power
I can’t help but see what Jesus accomplished on the cross when I read each of those – it gives me chills! But again, what do we need to do? Jesus answered that question in John 6:29, but decided to make His point clear in three little words spoken in John 19:30: “It is finished.”
There is nothing for us to do but to believe in Jesus. Believe in Him means that you need to trust who He is, be confident of what He says is true, and that means to know Him. Invest in getting to know Him. It’s just like any other successful relationship: you have to get to know each other. Tell Him about your day and how you feel about things (even though He already knows everything) and then find out what He has to say about those same things by seeking out His promises made to you – His kiddo! He’s always there, ready to listen, ready to talk, and already finished with everything that needed to be done to accomplish complete restoration. Now rest – the restoration is already yours.