The God Who Redeems and Restores

Isaiah 62:12

And they will be called the Holy People, the LORD’s Redeemed; and you will be called Cared For, A City Not Deserted.

Joel 2:25

I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust ate – the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust – My great army that I sent against you.

God owes us nothing. Our own sin warrants hardship and destruction. Out of His great love for us, however, He chooses to redeem and restore us. We must always remember that Jesus was the perfect sacrificial lamb. Any efforts we make at holiness fall far short from perfection and are not enough to deserve salvation nor any blessing from God. Because of His mercy and grace toward us, He redeems us from our own self-made pits and restores us to blessing. Somehow, in the midst of God’s blessing upon us, He is glorified.

We are holy because God makes us holy. We are redeemed because He chooses to redeem us. He cares for us and does not desert us for His name’s sake. We are His through Christ, and He lovingly claims us as His own children, regardless of our failures and weaknesses.

God sends the locust into our lives to bring us to the end of ourselves and to seek Him. His intention is not to destroy us but to keep us from destroying ourselves. While He does not owe us a thing, He has chosen to restore whatever the locust devours in our life. In Him we have great hope for today and tomorrow as His children and heirs with Christ.

When life seems unfair – and it does at times – we would do well to remember that God exalts the humble and opposes the proud. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways. Submit to Him with humility, and rejoice in the fact that He chooses to redeem and restore us, even if our pit is one we dug for ourselves. We are Cared For, A City Not Deserted. Praise Him for His great love toward us, and rejoice in Christ, our Great Redeemer! Hallelujah!

Have a blessed day!