Returned Restored

“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 11:17-19

At some point in our life we will find ourselves wandering in the wilderness or exiled in a place far away. At first we may be frightened at where we’re at but over time we become adjusted by the bitterness that overcomes us, the changed mind that fogs our vision, and a hardened heart that stops us from living. We may find it hard to breathe, no way to think, and nightmares overcome our past dreams. We become captivated by the captivity that holds us back from the life we were called to, no longer seeking to leave because we no longer see a way out. But in these places God never leaves us, and He never stops calling us home even if we can’t hear His call.

The Israelites had been taken captive, they thought they were left for dead in a far off land. So they chose to go the way of the people in this land, instead of seeking the way of their God. Yet God never stop pursuing them. Their hearts may have become hardened, but God kept wooing them to his own. Eventually, God got the attention of his people, he gathered them from the places they had gone and he restored to them a heart that was fully his, placing upon them a new spirit that refreshed their souls.

He opened their eyes to see, their ears to hear, their minds to know, and their hearts to feel His love so they could live freely in the land He called their home.

There have been multiple times in my life where I find myself so far from the place God had called me. I find myself wandering in a land I do not know and can’t seem to figure out how I got there or how to leave. But never in any of those times has God ever left me or been far off from me. Even when I couldn’t see him or feel him he was there. My mind had just gotten foggy and my heart consumed because the world had betrayed me into believing it was what I should be seeking.

God kept calling to my heart and I kept yearning for him. As I would turn to him and seek him, every-time, I would see him more clearly. He kept pursuing me as I finally ran toward him and he restored me to himself. It was so freeing I felt as though I could fly. I was again breathing the fresh air of the place He’d called my own. His spirit was upon me and His presence was embracing me; the world no longer had me bound to it.

When God calls you home, when he plucks you from the hands of captivity, he doesn’t just return you the same, he returns you restored – fully healed, fully alive and fully free to live the life he has for you.