"Broken. It’s broken.” My heart wept. Tears dripped off the tip of my nose onto my hand, which held a three-legged ceramic horse. His left front leg lay next to his disfigured body. A wound I caused. “Jack”, I cried out to my oldest brother “look at what happened. My sobs were met with tenderness and a bold declaration. “Mary, I can fix your pony.” “Fix it?” I thought to myself in disbelief, knowing that I had tried unsuccessfully to hold the leg in place ... hearing my parents warn me about playing with these treasures—yet my stallion seemed to be happiest when I made him dance over the dresser top in my bedroom—“How can he be mended? He’ll be broken forever.”

Little did I realize as a four year old that a skilled hand and some Elmer’s^® Glue would repair this object of my playtime—and within a night’s rest and a splint of toothpicks, I’d be back in the saddle.

And I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you. —Joel 2:25 (NKJV)

In this wonderful passage of promise, God speaks to the nation of Israel, which had chosen to forsake God, His covenant, laws and love. Bible commentaries vary on the date of Joel’s prophecy from as early as 835 B.C. to as recent as 300 years before the coming of Christ. The nation of Israel, reeking with the stench of spiritual decay lay broken and torn apart. The prophet called for a cry of repentance across the land. Joel warned of a coming judgment and spoke words of "God glorifying" wholeness into a war-torn world.

We grasp the beauty and blessing our Lord has for us in the word "restore." God is not promising to fix, repair or mend—God is declaring that He can make an object of His wrath as new in His eyes as the moment He brought it into being. Two verses later Joel says of God, “I am in the midst of Israel” (Joel 2:27, NKJV). This is the promise of God’s presence in the coming of Messiah and in Christ’s ultimate victory when He returns as King Jesus.

In this childhood memory my brother acted with the sweet grace of Christ—as the One who redeems all past mistakes. The Savior, Messiah, comes to restore those who repent and turn from their sin. God reaches out His hand of healing and salvation to you and me today, restoring us to usefulness in spite of past disobedience. My carelessness had left a scar on my brown horse, but in spite of error my pony would be restored to prance happily atop my bedroom dresser.

My prayer is that we would reach out in boldness and claim this promise. Lord, we are so very sorry for our sins. Forgive us, renew us and restore us so that we might live to serve you in wholeness, bringing glory to Your Holy Name. In Jesus name, Amen.

Copyright © 2010 by Waters of Life^TM Ministry for Women, Inc., www.wolministry.com