A God Who Repairs & Restores the Broken

My two sons are wonderful boys and I must say that by the grace of God and my overcompensating CPTSD parenting, I have not had much trouble with them. Even so, they are human (sinners) and there have been pesky behaviors that have required progressive discipline.

For instance, Isaac went through a short spell in middle school when the testosterone started flowing and he was kind of handsy and a bit aggressive, though often accompanied by an easy, good natured smile. Exasperating!

His big brother and dad rough house with him as guys do...football, wrestling, and all that...and Isaac wasn’t always good about knowing when to turn this off.

Plus, Isaac likes kissing and hugging.

Ahem. Need I say more.

And needless to say, I had to crack down on all that. I didn’t want him to develop blood lust or become a playah. (If you knew Isaac, you would know how totally unlikely this is, but we are sinners after all.).

At the peak of the unchecked hormone flow, he lost his iPad for a few days, and was sent to his room with no dinner. Don’t call child protective services. He has not had a problem since.

It gave me no pleasure to punish Isaac and I had tried a lot of variations before my moderately extreme, but effective consequence.

Our Heavenly Papa is perfect and has a lot more leverage with humanity—and punishment— than I do with my sons or anyone.

We can call the very short book of the Old Testament prophet Joel a Cliff Notes of God’s people’s wayward ways and our Father’s ways. It’s a very unique prophetic book that offers practical insights for the here and now. Short and not-so-sweet, it still ends with Good News.

Contrary to popular belief, God says that he does punish those he loves, like any good dad punishes children (Hebrews 12), lest they keep hurting themselves or others unchecked.

That is definitely not to say that every hardship is punishment because we live in a broken world where bad stuff happens through no fault of our own. But all bad stuff is an invitation to draw closer to Him who loves us and has all the answers; that includes examining ourselves for where we have gone astray.

When Joel wrote this, God‘s people were really off the rails with idolatry, greed, oppression, and exploitation of the poor and a variety of other unsavory behaviors.

It’s important to know that this is the Lord talking and that he is the One who sent the army of devouring locusts as well-earned punishment for his beloved people‘s bad behavior.

Like any loving parent strategy, the intensity and duration of the punishment is only as long as it needs to be to produce sincere course correction a contrite heart and return. Not merely a good show of sorry by tearing up my outfit while wailing dramatically.

So let’s get this straight. His people have been rotten. They had chosen their own way. God’s prophets had warned them (again) to get their act together. Just stop doing what they were doing. And after their return, God was now restoring.

All they had to do was return, and God was delivering this promise: To give them back more and better than they lost by their own shenanigans.

Even better, in Christ, this is more or less “effortless”…with our humble and dependent cooperation. A life surrendered is a life of peace, joy, and purpose. Abiding is a restful, reliant posture of obedience (like “keep your hands to yourself”), not a checklist of rules, which is exhausting and produces unpleasant results.

I have lived it all gratefully and highly recommend returning and abiding.

Maybe where you are today it seems It might seem like too great distance if you’ve been far away for a long time, but God can close the gap in a hurry by rushing to meet you the minute you’re on your way.

This is my God: He will restore the years that the locust gobbled up— the very corrective consequence he sent upon his wayward people to call them home.

Only God can do that.

I Highly recommend Him, too.

PRAYER:

Lord, you are God and our Heavenly Father. What a privilege to have a Dad like you. Thank God that however big the mess we’ve made, all we have to do is return and You can restore, renew, and revive our spirits in Christ. I ask that you do just that in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in which we pray to abide all the days of our lives. Amen. Thank You. I love you!💖