Restoring What Was Stolen

"At that time I will gather you;
          at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honour and praise
          among all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes
          before your very eyes.
                         says the Lord."
                                    (Zephaniah 3:20)

These words are the end of God's promise to restore a remnant of Israel as recorded by the prophet Zephaniah. God's judgement wasn't going to completely destroy them - a remnant would be left. Once God brought them back from where they had been scattered by their enemies, He was going to restore what they had before.

For the last few days I've been pondering the last couple of lines of what God says in this verse, "when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes." I started to see a parallel in our lives as Christians today.

God's promise to Israel in this verse was very much about the physical world. He was promising to restore their land to them.

But for us I think the concept of restoration can have a spiritual implication. God doesn't restore physical wealth to us, but He does restore to us things Satan has stolen from us.

John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

We have an enemy that comes to take whatever he can from us in our spiritual lives. He steals our freedom by keeping us entangled in sin when we allow him in.

But when Jesus came to earth, He broke those chains and set us free. He paid the ultimate price to restore our freedom to us.

Satan tries to destroy life -

But Jesus came to restore that life.

God's promise to restore His people is still true today. He longs to restore to us the ground and the areas of our lives that the enemy has stolen from us.

Will you allow Him to do so in your life?