My granddaughter Abbi was born
Thursday, and it was a wonderful day of celebrating and love and tears of
joy. And then Friday morning, I had
time to read in Deuteronomy 30 during the quiet early morning hours. And this is what I read and what it said to
me:
Deut. 30:1-10
Moses talked about what the
Israelites would go through as they went into the land. And as they lived there, they would turn to
God and turn away from God—they would receive blessings for their obedience and
curses and judgment and hard times for their disobedience. But what would happen when they
returned? Restoration—and that is a
very good word and a very good thing.
v. 2-3 “When you return to
the LORD your God, you and your children … with all your heart and all your
soul, THEN the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on
you.” (ESV)
In addition to Abbi’s safe arrival,
I got an email that I will be teaching a New Testament class for the 2nd
part of spring semester as well—something I doubted would happen. And to me this seemed to be God’s
confirmation of His blessing and restoration for a very long year.
Notice other promises to the
Israelites in this passage. V. 5 “And He will make you more prosperous and
numerous than your fathers.” (ESV)
v. 9 “The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in the
work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your cattle and
the fruit of your ground.” (ESV)
For over a year, I had been
unemployed—I had no church and no job, despite applying for many. I felt lost, felt abandoned by the Lord at
times, felt useless and too old in the eyes of people who made decisions about
the jobs or positions. For over a year.
Then you called me as interim
pastor. And then I got to teach one
class at Morthland College. And all of
that meant I still had something to give—was not forgotten nor abandoned by the
Lord either.
And then the other day—with the
other class I have been asked to teach and with Abbi’s birth, I felt God was
restoring the fortunes—blessing once again—not abandoning us. We had been seeking Him during this time—we
had been serving Him during this time—I had many opportunities to serve, but
mostly unpaid opportunities.
And then, what seemed a
confirmation from God with this Scripture after the good news of
Thursday—“restoring, prospering, growth of family”—what good news!
The good times are there for us
all—and the bad as well. But
throughout, we are to seek the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength.
When you don’t understand—seek
Him—that is faith. When you don’t agree
with what is happening nor do you feel it is fair—seek the Lord.
A low time in the life of
many churches right now? Few people
attending—much less than in the past—at times, it is frustrating and
discouraging. Where is the commitment
to the Lord and the church that once was here?
Where is the joy of worshiping God and serving that once was here? Where are the families and young people that
once were here?
And what is the future of the church?
In the meantime, what do you
do? You seek the LORD—you obey Him
diligently—you look in your own life and see whether there areas of your life
that need to be more committed to the Lord and His leading.
And maybe—just maybe—He will
restore the fortunes and have compassion once again. Maybe He will make this church prosperous with committed church
members—people of all ages—people loving to gather for worship and fellowship
once again.
We have our part to play—but God
also wants to restore. In the meantime,
we must seek Him—seek to obey—seek to be committed to Him.
Where one is turning away from
God—there is a need to return. Where
one is living disobediently, one needs to turn back to the LORD. Where one is being a person of doubt—one needs
to turn to God in faith.
God wants to “restore your
fortunes” as a church, and “have compassion on you” and your family as well.
And when it begins to happen, you
give Him thanks, as I did last Friday morning—I recognized it as the hand of
God—the goodness of God—and through Scripture—the confirmation of God.
·
What might God be saying to YOU today through this
passage?
- Where is there a need for restoration in your life?
- What are you doing to cooperate with God in what He wants to do for you and your church?
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