| Restoration |

2 Sundays ago, Daniel and I had the privilege of visiting my friend's church called the Living Sanctuary Brethren Church. This friend of mine and I go way back - like way before even Daniel came into my life - yes it was that many years ago. She was my bestie then and even after we lost contact and have just reunited not too long ago, meeting her again really brought back all that warm familiarity and she is still my bestie! *hugz*

It was a scene of many familiar faces; most only managed a simple "hi" and that was it. And then I suddenly remembered this sentence which my colleague commented recently - 有些人是会自动从你的生命里消失的.

How true.

Regardless of what happened back then, and no matter the distance that the years had put in-between those precious people and myself, I thickened my skin and contacted them. I resolved not to bring any excess (and unnecessary) emotional baggage into my new life with Daniel like how the Marriage Preparation Course (MPC) taught us in late 2010.

It had always been my secret wish to have the people whom have made a difference in my life witness my union.

So 6 months ago, I embarked on a journey on restoration. I wanted to restore the friendships and relationships that had somehow gone stale over the years and though it was hard and some did not reciprocate, well at least I can say that I tried my best.

Wedding aside.

I would still have wanted to restore those broken relationships someday somehow because someday, Someone is going to ask me why I never did anything to restore those hurts and broken hearts and I really would not have a better excuse. So I may as well do as much as I can now before God questions me on Judgement Day *tsk

So back to our visit to LSBC, the sermon that day touched me deeply. And I am convinced that God truly loves me; He speaks to me even when I’m visiting friends’ churches! How amazing is my Father in heaven? You will have to experience it yourself to know why I am still so captivated by Him all these years. :)

Restoring the Years that The Locusts Have Eaten
(Joel 1 & 2)

The message starts with a proclamation that this year, 2012 is the year of the Lord’s favour; it is also the year of the Lord’s restoration.

And my 3 main takeaways were:

(1) Remembering the Nature of God (instead of looking at the locusts)

First thing we need to know is it was never God's desire to send locusts in our lives (Joel 2:13).
"He relents from sending calamity"

So then why are there still locusts (i.e. bad stuff) in our lives?

3 potential reasons are:

a) Our Wilful Disobedience to the Lord (Deuteronomy 28:38-42)
When we deliberately go against what the Lord has in store for us and go the other way, we are actually walking away from the protection of our Lord. And when that happens, the enemy finds opportunities to come to steal our blessings, kill our faith in God and destroy our relationship with Him (John 10:10).

b) Generation Curses (Jeremiah 30:16-17)
Some people may be inflicted with generational curses for whatever reason. However the main focus here is again on the Lord’s promises and not on the locusts in our lives and God’s promise of restoration of health and all things good.

c) The Mystery of God (The Book of Job)
One thing about our Abba Father is that we can never try to understand Him because He is God, and His ways are not the ways of men (Isaiah 55:8). And even though it’s hard to understand why He decides to let us go through bad things, like in the case of Job who was a blameless and righteous man. But of course we all know the story that God blessed Job even more by giving him a double portion of blessings.

So how will God restore His promises to us?

(2) Restoring the Promises of God

One thing for sure is He will definitely bring us back to where He had originally intended us to be (Joel 2:25). Just like the Israelites, a journey to the promised land from Egypt would have taken a mere 11 days to reach but God had them wander in the wilderness for 40 good years because that generation had deliberately disobeyed God and sinned greatly against Him as a result (Deuteronomy 1:2).

Now back to Joel 2:25, God was very specific in His promise of restoring what the young and great locusts ate; He also promised an overflowing provision in Joel 2:24.

When He said in verse 23 that He would send “abundant showers, both autumn and spring rain”, He is actually speaking of restoring the promise in Deuteronomy 11:14 of grain, new wine and olive oil where grain symbolizes the physical provision of God; and wine is actually the favour of a new promise; and where olive oil is the favour in "sacred anointing oil for the generations to come" (Exodus 30:31).

And just for your info, rain in biblical terms symbolises 2 things:

i) God’s favour upon men (Proverbs 16:15)
ii) God’s presence (Hosea 6:3) – God’s calling for the return of His people to Him

Interestingly, on the topic of restoring wine, Luke 5:37-39 also talks about the new and old wineskin. We all know there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1), and the new wineskin symbolises a renewed people and the new wine symbolises a new promise that God is bringing us into a brand new season.

3) How to Usher in the Restoration of God:

a) Trust - Joel 2:21-22
Here the Lord tells us not to be afraid and to trust in the Lord’s goodness

b) Do a divine exchange with God
It means exchanging with God what we have for what He promises and also exchanging our locusts for His blessings.

And if I may add, we are clearly given a choice in Deuteronomy 30:19 where we can choose life instead of death, and blessing over cursing.

Are you as amazed as I am? Perhaps I did not do a good job in writing what I learnt but I hope the little that I have written will bless you somehow.