RETURN BACK to GOD for RESTORATION & RENEWAL!
August 25
Bible Reading: Lamentations Chapters 4-5
RETURN BACK to GOD for RESTORATION & RENEWAL!
"Turn
us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored; renew our days as of old"
(Lam. 5:21)
The last
chapter of the book of Lamentations describes a prayer to God for restoration and renewal as this book ends with a note of hope rather than gloom. After
describing their bleak conditions that entailed their loss of their freedom, land and respect, the
people of Judah now asks the Lord to return
them back to Himself so they can be restored
and renewed. Their ultimate hope for
restoration was God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises!
There are three key words to note in the above prayer:
- Return: This is one word that can summarize
God’s earlier message to His rebellious people through prophet Jeremiah (1:13;
3:40). In fact, in one of Jeremiah’s earlier messages, he had exhorted the
people to “return” to God no less than seven times (see Jer. 3:1, 7,
12, 14, 22; 4:1). The Hebrew word for “return”
means to turn back from sin to God. This
is the first step for repairing the broken
relationship of man with God!
- Restore: The term "restore" could be either a physical return of exiles to
the land or, a moral and religious repentance back to their former relationship
with God. To “restore and to build
Jerusalem” was the prayer of the prophet Daniel as well (see Dan. 9:25). Without repentance and conversion there can
be no restoration to their former relationship with God!
- Renew: As a verb, the term “renew” (Psalms 51:10) can mean “repair” (Isaiah 61:4). As an adjective,
this word identifies something new in
contrast to something old, or, something
different when compared to the status quo (such as “a new spirit”; see Ezekiel 11:19; 18:31). The Bible teaches that God alone is the One who makes things new,
whether it is a new song that God
gives to the one He rescues from the horrible pit (Psalms 40:3), or, a new phase in God’s plan of redemption
for mankind (Isaiah 42:9; 43:19), or, a new
name that God gives to His children (Isaiah 62:2), or, a new heaven and earth that God is going
to create one day in the future (Isaiah 65:17; Rev. 21:1).
For anyone
who has wandered away from their relationship with God (as in the case of the
captive people of Judah described in this book), there is a time to look up to
God for help through genuine prayer. God can change us radically if we allow
Him to work in our lives. We can see that in the case of Apostle Peter who was
restored after declaring his love for Jesus three
times to compensate for denying three times earlier (compare Mark 14:66-72
with John 21:15-19).
As in the
case of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32, there is a point of time that we
need to come to our senses and realize our true pitiable condition. It is at
that time that we need to return back to God through genuine repentance and
conversion. When we do that, God will both renew and restore our relationship
with Him (Psalms 23:3).
