God Will Restore And More

Joel 2:25- And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
Mark 10:29, 30 - And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Joel is a book of revival. It tells of a people who have grown cold. Before some of you get into that Old Religious stuff of God sent awful stuff on people who did not deserve it. You'd better watch out with that sacred cow and read carefully the whole Bible. God warned the people way back in the book of Deuteronomy the 28th chapter, that if they walked in sin, judgement would come in various forms. It's like any of us cooking supper. Cooking supper is a good thing. But if a disobedient child comes up and grabs one of the burners after we told them, "Don't touch it. It will burn you" none of you will say that you cursed the child. You gave the warning. The child didn't listen. But what do you say next. You say, "I told you it was hot. Why did you grab that burner." Then like a good mommy or daddy you tend to your child who cries out to you in repentance. They know how to get in trouble by themselves but they need parents to help them heal when they are hurt.

Now, let's look at this scripture. Deut 8:2 - And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, [and] to prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
The curses in Deuteronomy 28 are for the sinner. In Deuteronomy 8, there are times when things don't exactly line up with what we consider to be the blessings of God. However, just like the fourty years in the wilderness, this was only temporary. God never designed it to be permanent. God's promise was to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. Those that held on and believed His Word were restored in grand fashion and more.

Let's take Abraham for an example. He was nice and comfy in his home town, around his relatives, and becoming prosperous. Then God calls him out and told him that he was going to be the father of many nations and that the whole world would be blessed by his seed. Which, by the way, he didn't have any. Now, anybody trying to figure God out would have said, "Well, I guess God meant for me to take a lot of wives and have a lot of children if I am to become a great nation." But that is not what God promised. They tried it and God didn't dig it. He said that Sarah would bear the promised child.

So, here we go. Abraham tells all of his several hundred servants that their seventy-five year old boss and his sixty-nine year old wife were going to father a multitude of children. Right! And so. They kept watching Sarah, and kept watching Sarah, and kept watching Sarah and nothing happened. For twenty four years, they watched and nothing happened. Don't you reckon that by now they were just a little skeptical?

Listen to what God did. He publicly embarassed them. Even though they were rich, they were considered cursed because they had no children. For twenty four years, all the servants kinda looked at them as 'Those poor old fools---believing such nonsense." The high-brow kings that they visited thought the same thing when they finally found out they were married. On top of that, they had gotten so old that their bodies weren't in reproduction mode any more.

But in the twenty-fifth year, God showed up and changed history. The bodies that couldn't, did. Instead of ho-hum around the camp, laughter was heard. The impossible had happened. What everyone saw as a curse, God was using to see what was in Abraham and Sarah's heart. Would they follow Him all the way to the miracle? Indeed they did, and indeed God did. God restored their bodies. God restored their laughter. God restored their pride. They held on to the promise and remained faithful to Him and He did just exactly what He said that He would do. Their paitience, their faithfulness, their praise to God in ungodly circumstances brought God's restoration in a greater way than they had imagined. Their sacrifice (Mark 10), was greatly multiplied by millions of children down through the years, including Jesus. When God got through restoring, Abraham and Sarah had more than what they had sacrificed. God was faithful. He will restore and more.

Let's look at Joseph. He had a Godly dream. He shared it with his brothers a his daddy. His brothers were so enthused about his Godly dream that they faked his death and sold him as a slave. That's a lot of good thanks and appreciation for being able to hear God. (Have you ever said that about ungodly circumstances that have surrounded you when you've done your best? Just wonderin'.) As a slave in Potiphar's house, Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him. When he refused because of his relationship with God, she lied on him and had him sent to prison. (Have you ever been thrown in an ungodly circumstance when you did what God asked you to? Just wonderin'.) Joseph's heart for God was tested for fourteen years. His heart ached for his father and brothers. He longed to be back in a place that he called "home." He had to live every day around people that he had no heart-ties to. He had to live every day with nagging questions, "Did I really hear God? Was that dream real? How long do you have to wait? Have I missed God and lost my blessing?" Now, I know that you have never asked these questions but they have entered my mind a couple of times.

Then, in one day, God promoted him from prisoner to prince. He became second in command of all of Egypt. He married Pharaoh's daughter and lived in the lap of luxury. Then, a couple of years later, he was re-united with his family and was able to provide for them greater than they could have done back in the home country. God used the riches of Egypt to bless His faithful servants. The end was better than what they expected. God will restore and more.

Again, when the children were slaves in that same land. They were made to serve "with rigor." Even though it looked like it never would happen, God had a plan already in progress to bring His people back into the promised land. His plan never included leaving them in a strange land wondering if God really cared. His plan was to bring them into a land that would be theirs for keeps. While they were serving Egypt for four hundred years, God had people in the promised land of Caanan that were building it into a garden for His people. God will restore and more.

Whatever we have had to sacrifice to serve the Lord, God is faithful to keep an accurate record. Nothing ever slips past Him and He will never forget the smallest item. Meditate on this, Heb 6:10 - For God [is] not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Don't let the enemy tell you that your reward is in the 'sweet by and by.' Mark 10 said that we would receive one hundred fold now in this time of whatever we have had to sacrifice to live for Him. Instead of looking down all day, we need to be looking up and praising Him in the middle of our lack. We need to be praising Him not for the lack that we are experiencing but for the one hundred fold return now in this life that we will receive. Not because it looks like it, but just because God said so. And God has proven Himself to be faithful to restore and more.

Are you ready for the greatest faith stabilizer? It is Ps 16:10 - For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. God told His Son, 'You will have to go there for a short time, but I won't leave You there. You're not going to rot in hell all of your days.' How many times has the enemy told you it's all over and you will never be any better off than you are now? As a matter of fact, he will try to tell you it will get worse. But, I've got news for that ole loser. God is no respecter of persons. If He did it for one, He will do it for all. It might feel like hell for a while, but God has never planned for you to stay that way. He will restore and more.