Restoration, Renewal, and the Call to Come Back

Scripture Focus

Joel 2 (with emphasis on The Voice translation)

Reflection

Today while reading in the book of Joel, began contemplating my ministry, Ransomed Sanctuaries. Specifically, how we walk through this book series of identity restoration and the workbooks together. Not only do we focus on healing, but also on growth and recognition through Christ.

The book of Joel is short, but incredibly powerful. The Israelites lived in chaos and disobedience. Their enemies besieged them, famine stripped the land, and even the priests, whose sustenance came from portions of the people’s sacrifices to God, had nothing to eat. No supply remained to bring before God.

Joel described a day when God would come with His army and burns away everything not of Him. All falseness. All fake greenery. All hollow beauty. Through Joel, God called to His priests and His people: Come together. Fast. Pray. Bring the old, the young, the infants, the newborns. Even those on their honeymoons, leave and come be with Me. God told them to stand at the altar and weep for the destruction they saw, and to ask Him for pity, for change, even when they could not yet see it. He told them to keep coming to Him in prayer.

This was a call back into restorative relationship.

He said because He was passionate and possessive of His land, He would restore His beloved people and respond to their prayers. He would send grain, wine, and oil, not only to meet physical needs, but to restore hope, dreams, and the internal ability to live again. No longer would survival consume all their energy.

He promised to remove the armies attacking from every direction, not just from borders on a map, but from the borders of hearts, minds, bodies, souls, and spirits. He would drive out shame, lies, and strip away what the enemy left behind.

For us, this may not look like famine or war. What we see is abuse, neglect, chronic illness, violence, hopelessness, and homelessness. God continues to say to us today, He’s going into those places, driving out the enemy, and restoring what was stolen.

Trust Me, for I do great things.

God said to His people then and His people now, “Do not be afraid. You have been revived. Celebrate and rejoice, for the Eternal One has done great things. You will eat again, for the desert pastures are green again.”

In Joel 2, the primary Hebrew word connected to rejoicing is גִּיל (gîyl / gil), which carries the sense of spinning, trembling, shouting, or erupting with overwhelming emotion. It is the relief of knowing we walk in Him and He abides in us. The drought of feeling abandoned, shamed, rejected, condemned, is over.

Yes, the book of Joel spoke of physical restoration, but it also speaks of what happens inside us. The places where we have felt so dead we would do anything to feel alive for one moment. The places of deep grief and loss. The places where numbness rules.

God says, I am breathing on you. I am washing you clean. I am putting My living water back into your soul, your memories, your thoughts, your feelings, and renewing your dreams for the future. You are not lost. You are not abandoned. You are not obsolete.

He promises to compensate us for the years the locusts consumed. The years of exhaustion, years of illness, years of burnout, years of survival-based living, and the wounds and scars left on our inner selves. Shame and lies will lose their power. They will never be able to reopen those wounds. He calls us to praise His Name. To claim our identity as His people, His remnant, His legacy. To know that He is merciful, and that never again will His people be shamed.

This is not about nations on a map. It is about dissonances within ourselves. The battles between health and survival, shame and truth, and believing we are too much and knowing we are enough. When we fortify our hearts so tightly that we cannot even access ourselves, we become divided nations within.

And God speaks tenderly, My precious ones, I hear you. I see you. I feel you. Let Me walk with you so that you can see yourself again.

Yes, it may hurt. Yes, there may be grief. Feeling alive again can be terrifying after feeling dead for so long. But He promises, I will grieve with you. I will sit with you. I will bring people to walk alongside you. Just listen.

Then He speaks of our children. They will prophesy. They will break cycles of violence and shame. They will learn what it means to live in safety. God will help us cross every barrier. The enemy’s darts will still fly, but they lose their power when we remain in His love.

Do not mourn your mistakes. Recognize them. Let them become places of growth. Let shame turn into empowerment, for yourself, for the next generation, for your neighbor.

As you testify, people will hear you. They will feel you. They will experience you. Through you, they will encounter Him, because He lives in you. He is the great I AM.

And He says this again and again: I love you. My heart for you is intense. There is nothing you can do that will make Me go away. Just come back.

Come back into renewal. Come back into growth. Come back into freedom.

Walk with Me, He says. That’s all I ask. Walk with Me.