The idea of being restored is incredible. However, have you ever restored something? I remember once restoring our dining room chairs. We had to unscrew the seat and pull out the staples and nails. Then we took a very coarse piece of sandpaper and rubbed the entire frame of the chair. Once we finished that we took a smoother piece of sandpaper and rubbed the whole chair down again. After this we could finally paint it. Now with the seat we measured a new cushion and new material to cover the seat. Once it was cut out, we stapled it together and screwed it back into the frame. The chairs turned out beautiful. However if I was the chair I don’t think I would have enjoyed the whole process.
Funny things is I am the chair, you are the chair, we are all the chair when we give our lives to God. It says in 2 Corinthians 13:9,
“We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong;
and our prayer is that you may be fully restored.”
Other translations use perfection, complete, mature, fully qualified in place of restored. When God is the one restoring you are moving toward perfection, being complete, growing in maturity, and becoming fully qualified.
I love asking God for a new word each month. I tend to be excited for what the word is and then I realize the process. Restore is a beautiful word simply because the end product. However, the process of being restored is a little more uncomfortable. Something I have been learning about being restored/restoration is that in order to be fully restored you first have to fully surrender to the process. There is no knowing what the process is going to look like, all you can do is trust. Looking back through my journal for the past few weeks everyday I wrote about trusting God. God is working even when we don’t realize it.
God tends to be in the business of uniting everything. He is the mastermind of pulling things together. Last month God had me read through Deuteronomy. I wrestled the whole way through because I just wanted to understand everything that God was teaching me. I thought I was finished with Deuteronomy, until I started diving into the word for this month. Are you ready for this?!?
“3 God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll have compassion on you;
he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.
4 No matter how far away you end up, God, your God, will get you out of there”
Deuteronomy 30:3-4
When trying to wrap my head around the whole restoring/restoration process I went to Jesus. He gave me this song. New Wine by Hillsong Worship
In the crushing, In the pressing
You are making, New wine
In the soil, I now surrender
You are breaking, New ground
So I yield to You and to Your careful hand
When I trust You I don’t need to understand
Make me Your vessel, Make me an offering
Make me whatever You want me to be
I came here with nothing, But all You have given me
Jesus, bring new wine out of me
‘Cause where there is new wine
There is new power, There is new freedom
And the kingdom is here
I lay down my old flames, To carry Your new fire today
It means we’re getting back on the altar
Let’s sing this to render everything, Lord
New wine out of me
Jesus, Jesus, bring new wine out of me
Jesus, Jesus, bring new wine out of me
Oh, Jesus, bring new wine out of me
The crushing, the pressing, breaking new ground, that is all part of the restoring process. All I can do through this journey is trust God. So through my trusting make me whatever you want me to be. When we go through the restoring, God is making something new. With the new comes new power, new freedom, and new fire. Return to the altar. Lay down the new that God has given and just wait to see what He will do.
