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!

repentance and restoration

O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;

you have been angry; oh, restore us.

Psalm 60:1

Sometimes we long for restoration because in our own sinful doing we have been disciplined by God. In this psalm David laments over the result of sin and judgment by God that followed in its wake. It feels like God has rejected His people. But what has happened is that God had broken through their misplaced values so that they would learn to trust in Him. The anger of God brought hardship with a purpose. And that purpose brought this prayer of repentance and heart-felt plea for God to restore lives.

David knows that Israel can in repentance run under the banner of a mighty God Who will save them (Psalm 60:4-5). He begs for God to fight for His people again because human might is a vain hope that only disappoints (Psalm 60:11). The only hope for restoration after a true repentance is the power of God to restore (Psalm 60:12).

I draw then this principle: When my experience senses a decline in divine blessing, I will first assume it is a call to examination of my heart for some needed repentance. And in confession I will plead for a gracious God to restore. With confidence, I know He will restore!

restore and sustain

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 51:12

God restores what sin destroys. And that grace is known fully in Christ when by faith in Christ’s death and resurrection a new life is reborn (John 3:3). God is so committed to restoring sinners that a kind of personal realized eschatology takes place spiritually… belief in Christ makes a person a new creation… a precursor to the day when God remakes the universe in a new heavens  and a new earth. The old has gone. The new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

And with the rebirth and rebuilding comes joy. God brings joy when He restores. This is what David prays for in repentance in Psalm 51:12. David knows God‘s saving forgiveness will restore the joy that his sin had stolen away. Sinners need restoration. God, in Christ, gives it to us! And we can rejoice in that work.

When God restores He also sustains… with the joy of God‘s salvation comes the sustaining work of God as we are willing to obey Him. This is true in salvation in Christ to the greatest degree. God’s Holy Spirit comes to indwell, empower, and ensure our salvation. So what God restores He also carefully keeps. May the joy of my salvation and the sustaining presence of God‘s Spirit be known in me today!

restoring shepherd

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Psalm 23:3

Jesus is my restorative Shepherd. As I meditate on Psalm 23 this morning, this most familiar passage of scripture, last expounded to me at a season of unfathomable grief, emphasizes for me the way that Jesus has shepherded my soul through the darkest experiences and into new sources of joy and seasons of intense renewal.

I am kept by Jesus, the Good Shepherd. I do not lack (Psalm 23:1). I can rest in fields of plenty and refresh myself by still waters of His peace, my soul no longer anxious or troubled by lack or by loss (Psalm 23:2). And this is how my soul is now restored. I am led by a tender Shepherd down the best paths of my life… even though I was once personally unsure at the path He had for me.

Jesus walked me through the valley of the shadow of death. And the evils around me, though real, and painful, did my soul no harm (Psalm 23:4a). Jesus has brought comfort in His Word, by His Spirit, and among His people (Psalm 23:4b). He has fed me, He has healed me, He has held me, He has kept me from the worst that my troubled soul has known (Psalm 23:5). And my Shepherd has restored life by His grace, goodness, and mercy as I dwell in worship of my restoring Shepherd forever (Psalm 23:6)! I truly live! My Shepherd restores my soul.