It’s Proven That God Always Restores What’s Lost.

Do you ever look around at your life and think, “How did I get here?” because God restores it, The life you imagined you’d have is not the reality you’re currently living in. Whenever you do not understand what’s happening in your life, just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and say, “God, I know this is your plan, just help me through it.” We find ourselves dealing with hard situations we never wanted for ourselves like:
Struggling with depression…
Mourning the death of a family member…
Battling a critical illness…

Nobody can stop what God is about to do or is doing in your life. If you feel like you’re losing everything, remember that trees lose their leaves every year but still they stand tall and wait for the next season for their leaves to appear. Ezekiel 36: 11, says that ” I will make people and cattle increase in number. There will be more of you than ever before, and you will have many children. I will let you live there as you used to live, and I will make you more prosperous than ever. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”

This shows that throughout the Bible, God restored whatever his people lost. Remember, when something is restored, it is always better than it was at the beginning. God’s promise to us is a better way, a better life, and a better future for ourselves and our loved ones.

GOD RESTORES

God has promised us that He will take that which is broken and put it together again and make it better than it was before. He has promised us that He will take the shattered pieces of our life, glue them together with his love, and make them stronger in the places where they were once weak.

Brethren When you read the story of Job in the Bible in the Book of Job 42: 10,”After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.” we see that despite Job beginning as a righteous and also wealthy man he lost everything in the hands of the devil. Yet even though all these things happened to Job, he did not turn away from God. He maintained his faith and his belief. “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him,” Job 13:15. No wonder God restored everything to Job. I love the way Job 8:7 says it, all the wealth you lost will be nothing compared with what God will give you then. 

Oh, brethren, we understand what it feels like to be burdened by the brokenness in this world. In this life, we are no strangers to sorrow. But, because of God’s great love for us, we can experience restoration even in the midst of our brokenness. Isaiah 67:7.
Deuteronomy 30:3 says, “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.

Money, property, broken-down cars and houses, and even old houses, can easily be restored. But one thing that can never be restored is time. Time flies and it does not return. Years pass, and we never get them back. But according to God time can also be restored; after all, nothing is impossible with God. God says in the Book of Job 2:25, “I will restore the years that the locust has eaten.” 

The harvest was completely destroyed for four years in a row. In many ways, God’s people were brought to their knees. But “the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.” God said, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied.” (Joel 2:18-19). God promised that their crops would produce an abundance in the years ahead that would compensate for what had been lost. “The threshing floor shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil… You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied” (Joel 2:24, 26).

What Are Lost Years of Our Lives?

What are lost years? What do they look like? Lost years (or locust years) are years that you can’t get back no matter the effort you put in to try and recover them, These lost years can be packaged in a variety of ways, They are:

1. Fruitless years: These are years where you feel like you have worked so hard like an elephant but you are eating like an ant. In short, you got nothing to show for your hard work. Most of you know what I mean by this and have even gotten used to this kind of lifestyle. You have gone through failed relationships, wrong investments, etc. year after year leaving you worried and full of disappointment.

2. Misdirected Years: Have you ever found yourself asking yourself this question: “How did I end up here?” If only. . . . If only I had made that move… If only I had taken that opportunity…If only I had chosen a different path…If only I didn’t go…..” The reason we ask ourselves these questions is because we didn’t end up where we intended or get what we wanted. We can’t go back in time, and so we are left with only memories (locust or lost years).

3. Painful years: These are years when you feel a great sense of emptiness and disappointment because of a loss of a loved one or a terminal illness. You go through life trying to cope, and hence you never enjoy life at all.

4. Loveless years: Have you ever found yourself asking yourself this question: “I wish my partner would love me like that… or I wish my parents would love me like that…” Sometimes, due to divisions and infighting in our families, this might cause divisions and a whole lot of headaches. So when you see people who are in love or families who are united, you get hurt. This is because seeing them reminds you of the lost years without the much-needed love and unity.

5. Years of Rebellion: Let’s you choose to rebel as a teenager or in your earlier years at work and as a result, you were punished for it and that cost you the much-needed love as a teenager or that coveted promotion. Instead of bringing you pleasure, rebellion brought you pain. Now you look back on those years with regret, the years that the locusts have eaten.

6. The Years that you were not Born again: These were years where you did what you wanted when you wanted and with who you wanted without fear of God. Most people regret their actions and decisions during those years because they lost quite a lot. They feel that much pain and loss could have been avoided and better decisions could have been made.

How Does God Restore Those Lost Years?

1. God restores those years by increasing your productivity and fruitfulness. God might put you on a new scale of harvest either 30, 60, or 100-fold, thereby helping you compensate for the lost time and harvest. As a born-again Christian, it’s your duty to ask the Lord of the harvest to multiply your Harvest and even sustain it for a longer period to go from generation to generation.

2. God can restore those years by bringing long-term gain from short-term loss. I remember what Isaiah said of our Lord Jesus: “He was cut off out of the land of the living” as I think about “years that the locust has eaten,” years that have been taken (Isaiah 53:8). Just imagine our Lord Jesus who died at 33 in short Isaiah says“ He was cut off.” He was cut off because he came under the judgment of God, not for his own sins—because he had none—but for ours. God restored him by letting him save the whole world.

3. God restores our lost years by bringing us closer to Him. Joel 2:27 says “You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the Lord your God” These people, who had been through so much, experienced a communion with the Lord that was unmatched by anything they had previously experienced in their religious life. By God increasing your relationship with Christ, he can restore years that were lost.

God is aware of every loss or sacrifice you made for His name’s sake. He is still thinking of you. At the appointed time, God will make up for everything you lost and compensate you appropriately. You only need to make it through the crisis and have faith that the King will restore and re-establish you. In the face of CHAOS, remember, Christ, Has Authority Over Satan.

Pastor Nathaniel