Divine Restoration

The backdrop to this book is based on the fact that God’s original intent for mankind was for him or her to have life in all its fullness and to have it more abundantly as expressed by Jesus in John 10:10. Going back to when God first made mankind, His intent was for Adam and Eve to live a great life free from worries and to have everything they ever wanted in the Garden of Eden. Although no human can accurately locate where this garden was, common sense shows that such a place must have just about everything humans would need to live happily and successfully on earth. At the very least, it must have mankind’s basic needs on earth, including food, security, and shelter. This book supports the notion that a gracious God who loved the world so much that He sent His beloved son to die for our sins will do everything in His power to restore humanity from their ills to a better state. Jesus’ promise about abundant life suggests that divine restoration is for humanity who believe in His name. Restoration can be likened to a life that has been given up on or has been abandoned because of its hopeless condition. Looking at a restored life, it can be difficult to know the life’s full story beyond what the beholder is looking at. The plant pictured on the cover of this book had such a hopeless condition at one stage in its life. The planter of this bitter leaf plant waited about four months for the planted stem to bud, but it dried up instead. However, just as he was about to pull out the stem from the ground so he could plant another one in its place, he noticed a tiny bud sprouting just below the ground level. In a few days, it grew out of the ground. After a couple of weeks, it became the luxuriant green plant shown in the picture. Since everything happened below the ground surface, the planter could not explain the full reasons or the processes of this incidence. Botanists and horticulturists may explain the sciences behind the processes of this kind of growth, but only God knew every detail and steps of the development inside the ground. In like manner, divine restoration of life takes place in mysterious and diverse ways. Whether it is human health, career, job, relationship, or other aspects of life, the power to cause or influence that restoration is divine. Only God sees and understands all the hidden complexities of life. As emphasized in this book and based on the author’s personal experiences, divine restoration simply means a supernatural intervention of God in a natural world to correct, remake, rectify, or restore what cannot be undertaken by natural means. The pursuit of divine restoration is not new to mankind. Throughout human history, humans have sought some type of divine intervention in their lives. They believed that it was necessary for them to be successful in life. For example, many world cultures believed that by worshiping or sacrificing animals to their deities, they could be healed, live long, have children, be successful, be protected, or have fortunes in life. In the Old and New Testaments or Biblical times, people tended to depend more on divine or deistical intervention when they had problems too difficult for them to solve. There were many cases of people visiting or appealing to various deities to help them determine the future, get pregnant, win wars, defeat an opponent, make rain fall, or make them have good fortunes in life. In all these endeavors, the seekers were simply asking the deities to give them something that would restore their lives or fortunes. Even in this modern time, some folks in many communities of Developing Countries still seek the help of deities to bless them or restore their fortunes. As already indicated, divine restoration can be experienced in human health, careers, family relationships, social relationships, organizations, national and individual welfare, personal and family wealth, and many other financial and non-financial areas of life. For example, speaking through the prophet Joel, God said that He would restore to His people the years that the locust hath eaten (Joel 2:25). Speaking through prophet Jeremiah, God declared that He would restore His people’s health and heal their wounds (Jeremiah 30:17). Prophet Amos said that God would restore His people Israel from captivity and that they would rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities as well as plant vineyards, drink their wine, make gardens, and eat their fruit (Amos 9:14). The Lord Jesus once said that He came that we might have life to the full or more abundantly (John 10:10). He showed examples of abundant life when He healed, fed, and restored many lives. Christians and many men and women of God believe God is still in the restoration business today. Divine restoration often proceeds after a period of injustice, loss, or maltreatment against someone. The restoration happens to appease the people on the losing side. People like Joseph, Hannah, and David experienced this type of restoration. Sometimes, the restoration is based on God’s decision alone. This applies to certain people even though they don’t deserve it and did not experience any observable injustice, loss, or maltreatment from anyone. The widow of Zarephath and the Syrophoenician woman had their life-changing needs met in this way. Sometimes, people’s faith, kindness, goodness, or righteousness helps to bring about divine restoration in their lives. Folks like Abraham and the Shunammite woman experienced this type of restoration. An important fact to remember is that God knows everyone of His children, what they have been through in life, and what will be needed to bring about a full restoration in our lives. As long as we are obediently waiting for the Lord and are willing to allow Him to do His work in us, He will restore us to the point of full satisfaction.