Skip to main content

Restoration, Support, and Strength



I can’t sleep.  I’ve tried.  But I’m in love.  With 1 Peter 5.  It’s ringing in the ears of my heart, keeping me up, stirring me up, causing relief and hope to surge within me … and I can’t afford to sleep.  To lose it.  To minimize it.  I can’t afford not to share it. 

The chapter, though I’ve probably read it dozens of times, has come alive to me in ways that I have never seen before.  Tonight, at a different stage in life and with a clarity brought on by a recent mission trip – the verses seem almost woven together for me.  For you.  Because I don’t know about you, but lately, I’ve been feeling drained, like my heart has been under attack, and like I have nothing left to give.  I imagine, if you’ve been a Christian for very long, you probably understand that feeling.  And that’s what I’m in love with about 1 Peter 5.  Here’s the beginning of the chapter, so you understand my excitement about verse 10.  You see, the chapter begins with the assurance that Paul was just like us and understood the difficulties of navigating this life in Christ, about suffering, about exhaustion and uncertainty (verse 1).  But Paul follows that up with a warning, an admonition to all of us as Christians and as people, to avoid falling into a rut, of doing what is “easiest” instead of what is best and what is right, of being so caught up with working for a paycheck that we forget to better the lives of others, to share hope, to protect and encourage life in the broken all around us (verse 2).   Then, he urges us to lead by example, be humble in the workplace and in God’s eyes, and to acknowledge we can’t carry the burden of brokenness and imperfection and a hurting world alone, but to turn all of our worries over to Him (verse 7).  Keeping it realistic and practical, in verse 8, he talks about the Enemy who prowls about our lives to devour us – to devour our passions, our callings, our compassion, our time, our focus, to get us so burnt out that our energy and gifts are squandered on busywork that ultimately leave us empty and unfulfilled.  Verse 9, therefore,  encourages us to resist the enemy and rely on brothers and sisters in Christ who are likewise battling for the Kingdom of God, battling to keep their hearts alive in a discouraging atmosphere, battling to see God’s plan and believe it is still good when the pain and struggle have worn on longer than they expected.  

Which brings us to verse 10. In the last hour, I have pored over various translations of this verse, dug into the Strong’s Concordance, and searched the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary – and have been blessed to hear from God in such a resounding way.  The verse, in the New Living Translation, says:

“In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.  So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.”  

But that’s not all.  After digging into the dictionaries mentioned above and a few other translations, my notes read like this:

“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of grace who has called you to His everlasting presence through Christ – He will complete you thoroughly, restore your story, revive you, resuscitate you and bring you back to life.  He will turn you resolutely in a certain direction, support and sustain you to keep you from fainting, sinking, or failing.  He will be inexhaustible in his support of you.  He will strengthen you, confirming your calling in spiritual knowledge and power.  He will animate you, encourage you, fix your resolution, and cause you to increase in power and security.  He will place you on a firm foundation, ground you in Christ and settle you.”  

Isn’t that amazing?  That is God’s heart for you.  For me.  God’s heart is to breathe life back into us when we feel empty and drained, to establish us in strength, to keep us from fainting, sinking or failing at what is most important.  He wants to confirm our calling in power – His power.  He wants to see us increasing in strength and security – not insecurity.  We were made with a purpose, a divine purpose, to live for Christ, to impact the world with the Gospel, to live boldly and freely in all that God created us to be.  If we are feeling constrained, boxed in, hemmed in – that is not God’s best for us.  He wants to revive us, to resuscitate us and give us another shot at a life invigorated by the Holy Spirit.  He wants to turn us in the direction we should go in, animated and encouraged that He is with us and will never leave us or forsake us.  

I know it isn’t easy.  I know that the days get long and the battles get wearisome.  I know that there is evil in the world and corruption and compromise that makes your heart despair of ever seeing “right” win.  I know that some days or weeks or months, it feels like we’re fighting an uphill battle in flip-flops and it’s raining and we aren’t sure we can keep our footing – but God has promised that the suffering will be “only a little while.”  On the other side of this battle, on the other side of this hill – there is a future that will make this moment pale into oblivion.  We won’t even remember it.  Because He will restore, support, strengthen and establish us in His best for us.  

What does that look like for you?  What does it look like for me?  What does it look like to be restored?  To be supported?  To be strengthened and established in Christ and in our identity in Him?  I’m not entirely sure.  It’s going to be different for all of us, because our God is an individual God.  He doesn’t do “cookie-cutter.”  But I can guarantee you this – even the thought of it causes my heart to sigh with relief, to feel at rest, to feel at home.  Even the thought of God’s restoration ushers in peace to my soul. 

So, if I can’t tell you what it’s going to look like, what is the point of all of this?  Of this late night rambling?  Well, the point is to implore you to seek God about these things.  To draw near to Him and believe that restoration is coming.  To dare to raise your eyes above the wounds of the moment to the refreshment that is coming.  And accept it.  Don’t turn away from what God has in store.  Don’t turn aside from who you were created to be and the role He has destined you to play in His story.   He isn’t finished with you yet.    And He isn’t finished with me either.  There is hope beyond the emptiness, beyond the chaos, beyond the burnout.  

Cling to that, my friends.  I know I am. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Our Refuge: Knowing God through the Psalms

“I have confidence in your strength; you are my refuge , O God … I will praise you, my defender.   My refuge is God, the God who loves me …” – Psalm 59:9, 17, Good News Bible The Psalms are filled with verses about God our refuge: -           Psalm 9:9 says that the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a place of safety in times of trouble. -           In Psalm 31:3, the Psalmist reminds God that He is our refuge and defense and asks for guidance. -           Psalm 59:16 is filled with the songs of celebration of the strength and constant love of our Refuge God. -           Psalm 62:8 encourages us to tell all our problems to God, to trust Him at all times, for He is our refuge.   And there are so many more references along this line.   But have you ever stopped to wonder what that means? ...

Asking for the Nations ...

It’s been my theory for a number of years now that everyone “has” a country, one nation at least that God lays on their heart, one place that if they were really honest, they would fly to in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose.  I mean it.  Look yourself in the eye (with a mirror of course), and ask yourself, “Where would you go if money were no option and you could leave right this instant?”  You heard it, didn’t you?  The whisper of another land, of a purpose beyond yourself … I hear it … I long for it.  My heart belongs there in another world … So much of what I’ve gone through in my life has prepared me to be a part of this nation, to pray for them, to do battle for the people of that nation in a realm we cannot see … A few years ago I was reading in Psalms and discovered a promise I’ve never forgotten.  Psalm 2:8, in the Contemporary English Version says, “Ask me for the nations, and every nation on earth will belong to you.”  And, as I’ve quit ...

Moats, Drawbridges, and Royalty - Oh my! Knowing God as our Castle

God is bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live , my rescuing knight … ~ Psalm 18:2, Message Perhaps it’s a sign of my simple, fairy-tale loving nature, but I have always been entranced with castles.   The spires that reach wistfully to the sky, the majesty and magic that seem to surround them, the regal beauty hidden within them, the safety and mystery they simultaneously portray to a world of curiously ordinary people, the resplendent riches and luxuries they contain … There’s something about castles that has always intrigued my heart, and therefore, when I found this verse – I fell instantly in love with it.   I love that God is depicted as the “castle in which I live,” the castle of my soul; love that He is the richness and extravagance my soul luxuriates in – no matter what the circumstances look like; that He is my dwelling place, my place of security and strength.   But it’s amazing how much more this imagery suggests to us about the heart and nature o...