God Restores What Discipline Destroyed
"I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten." — Joel 2:25
More Than Stopping
Here is something that repeats often enough to be worth setting down as an expectation.
When a problem is rooted in unrepented sin, and the sin is dealt with, frequently God does not merely stop the discipline. He repairs the damage the discipline caused.
Consider what that means. The torment ends — that alone would be enough. But often the wreckage the torment produced is also undone.
A hip that three decades of imaging showed to be worn out, requiring replacement. After repentance: pain-free, walking without a cane. Effectively a new hip.
A woman with rheumatoid arthritis for fifteen to twenty years. After prayer, five weeks with no pain — and a retest showing no arthritis in her body at all. Her doctor added something remarkable: her body showed no sign of ever having had it.
A man whose spine had been twisting for a year or two despite chiropractic care, whose shoulders had become visibly uneven, who had been steadily shrinking. After being walked through this process he came home over two inches taller and restored to his normal height. Spine straight. Shoulders even. Back pain nearly gone.
Why This Fits God's Character
This should not surprise anyone who reads Scripture, because restoration is one of God's signature behaviors.
"I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten." (Joel 2:25)
Notice what is being restored there. Not merely the crops. The years. Time itself, which by every ordinary reckoning cannot be given back.
Job lost everything and received double. Naomi went out full and came back empty, and was given a family. The prodigal came home expecting to be a hired hand and was given a robe and a ring.
God is not primarily interested in halting things. He is interested in restoring them.
Held Rightly
Two cautions, so this does not become a false promise.
This does not always happen, and it does not always happen immediately. Some damage is not reversed in this life. Paul asked three times about his thorn and was told no. A promise that everything gets restored right now would be dishonest, and dishonesty helps nobody.
Restoration is not the reason to repent. If you repent primarily to get your hip back, you have made repentance a transaction. The reason to deal with sin is that it is sin. What follows, follows.
But do not swing so far into caution that you expect nothing. Many people limit their prayers to "please stop the pain" when the God they are praying to has a documented history of giving back the years.
Ask for the restoration too.
Point to Ponder
He is not merely in the business of stopping things. He restores what was taken.
Verse to Remember
"I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten." — Joel 2:25
Question to Consider
What has been damaged or lost in my life that I have never thought to ask God to restore?
Today's Practice
Make a list titled: What This Has Cost Me.
Be thorough and be specific. Physical damage — joints, organs, eyes, teeth, a body that no longer does what it did. Years — the decade you lost, the season you cannot get back. Relationships that ended. Opportunities that passed. Money. Reputation. Trust. A version of yourself that you remember and miss.
You have probably never written this down. Most people avoid it because it hurts to total up.
Now write across the top of it: "I will restore to you the years."
And then pray over the list, item by item. Not just stop the affliction — restore what it took.
You may not receive everything on that page. Ask anyway. People routinely receive less than they might because they never thought to ask for more than relief.
Prayer
Father, I have been asking You to stop things. I have never once asked You to give anything back.
Here is what this has cost me. The damage in my body. The years. The people. The things I will never get back by any ordinary means.
You are the God who restores the years the locust ate. So I am asking — not only stop what is destroying me, but restore what it destroyed.
And whatever You do not restore in this life, help me trust You with. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Stop asking only for relief. He has a documented history of giving back the years.