“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” Psalm 23: 1-2 ESV
Do you ever feel totally spent? The end of the day feels like the end of a very long year. Your brain is fried. It’s an effort to pick up your feet and shuffle to the refrigerator for something cold to drink. Every move seems to take more effort than it should. You are completely depleted. What do you do to get back your energy and momentum? How do you restore what has been lost?
What does it mean to be restored? “Re-” always has to do with going back to an original state. To be restored is to be brought back to original condition or quality. It is to regain vitality or beauty or usefulness.
Do you need to be restored? What led to that state? It could be a destructive choice by you or someone else. It could be that life is just throwing a lot at you right now and you are expending all your energy to just survive. Perhaps wading through all those challenges has sapped every bit of joy and hope out of you. You may need to be restored if you’ve lost the joy of following Jesus. Or if you have strayed from following Him and allowed other things to become more important. Or maybe you have flat out rejected Him and His Word.
If you have wandered, experienced, pain, lost your joy, or just allowed busyness to crowd out your relationship with God and others, you may be in need of restoration. This is for you, my friend.
The remedy that leads to restoration is to give God your YES. When you give God your YES, you trust Him for restoration. Give God your YES. Let Him give you rest.
To give God your YES is to accept where you are right now and stop trying to fix everything. It is to release control and the desire to manage outcomes. To give God your YES is to say with Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”’ (Luke 1:38 NIV)
Here’s what will happen when you give God your YES.
He restores your past. Everything is redeemable. Restoration means that the past is redeemed. It does not define the future. It becomes part of it. To be redeemed is to be bought back and returned to the original state or owner. It’s very much like restoration….
I don’t know all that happened in your past. That painful conversation or the stinging words that stuck and became part of your identity. I don’t know what tragedy or trauma you may have experienced because of someone else’s choices. I don’t know where you strayed from the path and left a trail of damage in your wake. Those regrets and wounds can be redeemed. Jesus went to the cross for your past and mine so that our relationship with God can be restored and we can be healed. He paid the price to redeem the sins in your past. His blood restores your soul.
He restores your present. Everything has a purpose. You may need to be restored if today is all you can see. Sometimes, the mundane tasks of daily life or current unexpected challenges cloud our ability to recognize the bigger picture. Sometimes your current obstacle seems so big that you can’t imagine there is life on the other side of it. There are times when now can be confusing, painful and overwhelming. The question that comes to mind over and over is “Why?”
When life seems meaningless and confusing in the present, give God your YES. That YES is a declaration of trust. “God, I trust that You are going to bring something good out of this mundane mess.” Your YES opens the door for Him to pour in His Spirit and give you the strength you need to handle the challenges in front of you because you believe there is a reason for it, even if you can’t see the reason right now.
When Jesus was on the cross, his disciples could see no good reason for the pain they were experiencing. Nothing made sense. It was not until Jesus rose from the dead and explained things to them that they could see the purpose. Jesus will redeem your clouded present when you give Him your YES. His sacrifice restores your present by renewing your purpose.
He restores your future. Everything will become clearer. Just as your YES to Jesus redeems the present and gives you hope that now will make sense then, your YES gives you hope that there are brighter days in the future. Believing that you will someday understand what is incomprehensible now gives you hope for the future.
You may need to be restored if the challenges of life have brought you so low that you have lost hope for the future. It’s hard to see anything getting better. You don’t see yourself in satisfying relationships. You see no opportunity to advance. You can’t see yourself or those you love flourishing. You can’t see beyond the bills on the table, the mountain of laundry, the broken relationship, or your prodigal child’s painful choices.
When you surrender your future to the God of hope, He will give you all joy and peace as you trust in Him. You will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) What seems to be lost will be found as you move toward it. He will guide your path to a place of abundance and opportunity. You will begin to envision a place of flourishing in the future. Your vision will return.
My friend, Jesus offers you an invitation to come to Him, give Him your YES, and experience the rest that only He gives. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NIV)
My friend, His yoke is easy. His burden is light. To take His yoke on your means that He is in the yoke with you. He’s carrying the burden and working the challenge with you. You are not alone. Give Him your YES. Let Him give you rest.
Key Question: What does it mean to be restored?
A Scripture to Consider: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” Psalm 23: 1-2 ESV
A YES Challenge: Set a timer for two minutes of silence. In those two minutes, allow God to show you a place where you need to be restored. When the timer ends, talk to Him about what you need.
Prayer: Father, I am spent. You see all that has been happening lately. You know better than I do how the past is affecting me now. You hear the loss of hope when I speak to others and to You. I need you to restore my soul. I give you my YES today. You are the answer to all that I need. You are my shepherd to lead and guide me to abundance, restoration and hope. Amen.
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