Restored & Repaid!

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I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten...I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes," says the LORD...suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple...
Joel 2:25, Zephaniah 3:20, Malachi 3:1

As we spend this time of Advent waiting for His coming, I have been drawn to several scriptures amongst the minor prophets at the end of the Old Testament. After the final words of Malachi, Israel had to wait 400 years for the birth of Jesus... Now there is a lesson in waiting for the promises of God to be fulfilled; and perhaps an even greater lesson in recognising the promises when they arrive and look a little different to what we had expected! But the promise is there... that God will restore and repay us what we have lost. Ultimately, every good thing we have comes through His grace, expressed to us through Jesus.

Recently I have been thinking about loss both in my own life and in my church community. This is so often a part of our life experience and quite normal. As "The Road Less Travelled" begins, "Life is difficult". But I do not believe that God would have us remain in that place of loss. He wants to restore us and amazingly to repay us. He sends us His Son who can redeem all our brokenness and bring light into all our life's situations. We may have to wait, and probably will, but yes He is coming! Help is on the way.

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Comments

Robyn said…
As always, timely and beautiful words...
Pietro Brosio said…
Jesus never abandons us: He is always with us.
Regina said…
Wonderful. Glory to God in the highest. He who begin a good work in us will be faithful to complete it.
Happy Holidays.
kc bob said…
When I wait I try to remember that God does not always come in the manner I want. The Jews did not expect Jesus to come, live and die in the way that He did. The image of the Messiah was a different one from the one we see today.
Steve said…
Thanks again for your word today!
Barbara said…
how blessed we are to know there is a way out in Him.

Sometimes God calms the storm and sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child.

He knows best at any given moment as to what our needs really are.

Lovely post.
Abbey's Road said…
Thank you for visitng, Mike. I pray for the lonely and hopeless who have not become personally acquainted with our Loving Father, lest their load be a bit lighter. God is ALWAYS there; God is EVERYWHERE; just reach out for Him and He will turn your dark skies into sunny days.

Blessings,
Abbey
FA said…
Well said, Mike. We have a process called "theological reflection" which is designed to help us see God's work in everything. That is to say that God speaks to us in everything and we need to figure out what that is so that we can grow in holiness.

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