Articles
He Will Restore
The first verse of the hymn, "Bring Christ Your Broken Life", used to give me trouble:
"I will restore to you the years that the
Bring Christ your broken life, So marred by sin, He will create anew, Make whole again;
Your empty, wasted years He will restore,
And your iniquities Remember no more.
That third line I sometimes would not sing in the past as I didn't believe that was a promise from God. My empty, wasted years were gone and I couldn't get them back or make them right again.
But the past couple of days I've been studying Joel, where we find these promises from God to Israel:
"I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts has eaten... You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame." (Joel 2:25-26)
No, I can't get back those wasted years. But God does promise to restore the years we wandered in sin and misery if we return to God with all our heart (Joel 2:12). It doesn't mean our transgressions never happened. But the overwhelming grace of God and our resulting eternal joy are so glorious as to obliterate the pain and hunger of those dark times.
"And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Joel 2:32)
