God will restore!

            I have been doing a bible study on the book of Ruth for the past several months. I’m finally almost at the end of the book where Boaz agrees to and puts things in place to be Naomi and Ruth’s kinsman redeemer. When you look at how Naomi’s life had been and at what she had been through, you can indeed marvel at how God turned things around for her in the end. As I looked at how blessed indeed Naomi’s life turned out to be, the following thoughts flowed through my mind and I wrote the following in my  bible study notes.

​           Things may seem bad, desperate, hopeless but there is nothing that we go through that isn’t a part of God’s purpose for us. We see stress, frustration, persecution, oppression, in short, no way out! But, if we stick with God and hold on to His Word and His promises, we will see that God had a plan all along, that even if we were out of control and in a mess, God was in control all along and He knew what the end of our situation would be. When we’re going through the hurt and stress, it’s hard to see clearly but we don’t need to see clearly. Once God can see clearly, it’s enough and we’re going to be okay. Even though it looks like it’s over and that’s how Naomi must have felt, God still has the final say.  

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​            Naomi’s latter days were way greater than her past. She couldn’t see it when she was going through. According to Joel 1:4, “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hah the caterpillar eaten.” This is what Naomi had gone through. She had lost everything, even her dignity and she returned home and to her God filled with shame, discouragement and bitterness. But God!!! In Joel 2:25 it says: “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” God restored Naomi. He blessed her above and beyond what she could have ever dreamed or imagined.
            That is what God will do for you. So stand on His Word; stand on the reality of what He has done for you and others in the past, knowing that if He did it before, He will do it again. He may not do it the same way but He will do it!!!  Where there seems to be no hope, God will restore!   
                                                     Stand on His promise of restoration!