Beauty Restored

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

1 John 1:9

Recently while photographing a nearby ranch, I stumbled across a large pile of rubble from a burned out building. The look of the landscape was marred by the trash. It needed to be dealt with, cleaned up to restore the beauty of the grounds. When we neglect to deal with sin in our lives, our hearts begin to look like that heap of refuse. We need God's cleansing touch to restore the beauty of our hearts. The Psalmist wrote "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." He knew that it is only God who can set things right in our lives. The first step to a clean heart is to acknowledge the unsightly sin that resides there and repent -- turn away from the sin -- and then to confess it to God and ask for His forgiveness. He will faithfully and righteously forgive us and completely cleanse us. "God’s promise is that if we truly face our sin with genuine sorrow and confess it before the Lord we will be forgiven.  The stain will be removed.  In God’s eyes we will become as if we were unblemished." (Bruce Goettsche)

Gentle Savior

"A bruised reed He will not break 

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;"

Isaiah 42:3

When Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah, He showed Him as a Gentle Savior. Throughout His ministry on earth, Jesus proved Himself to be compassionate and eager to answer the call of the hurting. He hasn't changed.  When we come to Him in a weakened state, He doesn't crush us. He tenderly restores us. When our light has dimmed, He doesn't pinch it out. He lovingly fans the flame. Our Lord is tender, loving, compassionate and willing to answer us when we call out to Him for help. Life bruises us and dims our light. We need Jesus the Gentle Savior to restore us.

Weary Souls Restored

“He restores my soul.”

Psalm 23:3

There is a beautiful restoration that comes to our weary souls when we cling to Jesus. The same loving arms that stretched out on the cross to save our souls, now stretch out to pull us close. Safe in His arms the clamor and clatter of the world is shut out and we enjoy sweet communion with our Savior.  He whispers our name and reminds us that we belong to Him. When we are weak, He is strong. 

Joy Comes in the Morning

"Weeping may last for the night, 

But a shout of joy comes in the morning."

Psalm 30:5

When we are grieving a loss, the nights seem endless. Lying in our bed in the dark, it's hard to imagine that we will ever smile again. That's how it was for me when my husband Jim died suddenly of a massive heart attack four years ago. Honestly, there were many times that first year of widowhood when I asked God to take me home, too. I've never felt so sad. If it weren't for the Lord's love and faithfulness through the night, I never could have made it to the morning. God does bring joy with the light of day. Sometimes we have to determine to see it, but it is there. It's there when we yield to Him and say, as Job said, "Even if He slays me, I will trust Him." And as we continue to trust God with our grief and with our healing, something wonderful happens. One day we wake up with a "shout of joy".  It is then that we understand the psalmist's words as we never could before. God may allow sorrow into our lives for a time, but He will restore our joy. 

Rejoice and Blossom

 

"The wilderness and the desert will be glad, 

And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom;" 

Isaiah 35:1

In Isaiah 34, the prophet tells of God's judgment against the nations. Afterward, in Isaiah 35, the Lord restores everything to a beautiful state. "This was true in the immediate term, when Judah was restored after the invasion of the Assyrians was turned back. It is true in the longer term, when modern day Israel has turned the wilderness and the wasteland into productive farms, and truly has made the desert . . . blossom as the rose. It will be true in the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy, when God restores the ecology of the world after the end of the great tribulation and the battle of Armageddon (Isaiah 11:6-9)." -- Dave Gruzik. It's true in our individual lives, too. Until we receive Christ, we are barren under God's holy judgment. But after we accept  Christ as Savior, trusting in His work on the cross to save us, we are no longer condemned, and God restores us to the beauty He always intended. In this we rejoice and blossom!

I Love a Good Mystery

For thus says the high and exalted One

 Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,

         "I dwell on a high and holy place,

         And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit

         In order to revive the spirit of the lowly

         And to revive the heart of the contrite."

Isaiah 57:15

God is far beyond us in wisdom and majesty. He lives in glory and beauty, and He is eternal. No beginning, no end. And yet  this high and exalted One desires a relationship with us. When we are repentant, when we feel sorrow over our sin, God makes Himself known and with His indwelling presence brings forgiveness and restoration. Who can fathom this wondrous God? He's a mystery. But I love a good mystery, don't you?

Cleanse and Restore

"Create in me a clean heart, O God,

         And renew a steadfast spirit within me."

Psalm 51:10

God is gracious to forgive us and set us aright when we confess our sins to Him. Pride may keep us from acknowledging our sin for a season, but if we truly belong to the Lord we won't be able to continue in sin. The Holy Spirit will convict us and bring us to repentance. In our own strength we cannot make our hearts clean and restore ourselves to a right relationship with God. This is work that only He can do. When we try to accomplish this on our own, we set ourselves up for failure. Complete reliance upon God is crucial.

Don't Dwell On The Past

“Do not call to mind the former things,

Or ponder things of the past. 

Behold, I will do something new,

Now it will spring forth;

Will you not be aware of it?" 

Isaiah 43:18-19

One day my husband and I hiked in a part of Rocky Mountain National Park where a fire had burned down a few trees. It appeared they had been struck by lightning. As I surveyed the blackened ground, I noticed little shoots of green plants among the dead wood and charred pine cones. Yes, trees and vegetation had been destroyed by the fire, but God was doing a new thing. Fresh growth was springing up in the middle of the devastation. If I had kept my eye on what had been destroyed, I would have completely missed the lovely greenery pushing through the earth. God's work in our lives is like that scene. When we surrender our burned out lives to Him, He restores them into something new and beautiful. He doesn't want us to dwell on our past mistakes and failures. He wants us to place our trust in Him and look to see where He is doing something new.