Praise Him for Restoration!

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t need a little restoration from time to time? I don’t know about you, but there are times that my soul just cries out to God for a good dose of it.

As I sat in the dentist office yesterday, I had a tooth that was in need of a little restoration. It wasn’t just new decay that needed removal. It was an old filling that had gotten some new decay around it. Just because that tooth had been filled previously, it didn’t prevent some further decay from creeping in.

The LORD spoke to me while I was calmly (ha!) waiting for the dentist to come in to begin the process. He showed me that we Christians are just like that tooth. Just because we have been covered in the blood of Christ, it doesn’t prevent us from getting some areas of decay or sin in our lives. We still have to guard ourselves against the wiles of the devil. We still have to guard ourselves against our own flesh. We can still let sin creep on in and take hold and begin the decaying process in our spiritual lives.

Our salvation is in no way an automatic protection against our sinful nature. We still have to take up the Cross on a daily basis. We still have to constantly be strengthening ourselves in the Word of God to help us guard our hearts from sin.

When the dentist came in, he didn’t just put a filling in that tooth on top of the decay. He had to get all that decay out before he could begin that process of restoring the tooth. He had to make sure he removed every trace of the decay so that the filling would take hold. The filling had to have a clean surface to adhere to. If any of the decay was left behind, it would just continue to spread further.

We are just like that. If we don’t fully get rid of the sin, it will just fester and continue to grow and spread until it does even more damage. God absolutely cannot begin to restore us until we are convicted of our sin and come face to face with it. He has to start with a clean surface. There has to be a cleansing before the renewal process begins. We have to acknowledge our sin and become broken by it. Once we get to that state of brokenness over our sin, we begin to seek His forgiveness. We have to totally turn that sin over to Him. We have to come to a place of repentance so we can rid ourselves of that sin once and for all.

Then and only then, can our precious Father begin to restore our souls. He continues to cleanse us. He can begin to send His rain of mercy and grace down upon us. He can wash us in the water of His Word. He will pour out forgiveness like a flood. The waterfall of His restoration will flow down upon us and over us and bring us back to full fellowship with our sweet Savior. To bring us back to full restoration in the One who satisfied His holiness with the sinless Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the world so that we could become His righteousness.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit”

(Psalm 51:10-12)