Restoration

"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:10).

I've been thinking and praying a great deal in recent weeks about restoration, as a personal need and as a widespread need within the church. Misty Edwards, David Brymer and the worship team at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Ka., actually have a beautiful worship song titled "Restoration" that you can listen to on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LcyQOLVS_U).

Part of the lyrics go like this:

You've taken my pain
You call me by a new name
You've taken my shame
And in its place, you give me joy

You take my mourning
And turn it into dancing
You take my weeping
And turn it into laughing

You take my mourning
And turn it into dancing
You take my sadness
And turn it into joy

So, how do we come to restoration by God's Spirit? The answer lies in how we get ourselves into places where we need to be restored!

Even as we desire to surrender fully to God's will for our lives, to "give up" and "die to self" so that we can live as true disciples of Christ with no agenda of our own, we will come to a point in bearing the cross that we begin to question if we've made the right decision.

In a moment of elation in the Spirit, it can be somewhat easy to make your vow. I do not mean that the pledge is diminished in any way or is less than authentic and wholehearted because it is made on the mountaintop. But, as Oswald Chambers writes, "The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley."

Yet, in the valley and in the sharing of the passion of Christ and of His suffering, the question will come: "Is this what I signed up for?" At that moment, you have left the rest and assurance of God and you have ceased to adore Him for holding back nothing that will bring you to the perfection of His Son, which is found in the resurrection to life after suffering and death.

When we find ourselves in this place of uncertainty, we must honestly turn our face back to our Father and ask that by His Spirit He guide us once again into His "rest" so that we may show forth "adoration". Then, we will experience divine "restoration".

We rest because we recognize once more that everything is sovereignly in His hands to come to His ultimate glory. And we adore Him for being so trustworthy and faithful to us in all things, even those which bring us the deepest pain.

When we have passed through our "little while" of suffering -- for even if it lasts a lifetime, it is a little while on the scale of eternity! -- we find that what is produced in us is faith in, trust in and love for God that is so "strong, firm and steadfast" that it cannot be shaken. It has become eternal.