Hello Dear Listeners, welcome to overcoming temptations. My name is Oyisi. Today our topic is titled: The Lord shall restore you. Our Bible reading is taken form Joel 2:25 and 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.
Have you lost your money or lost a loved one or lost your job or lost your health, or lost your strength, the Lords’ message to you is that He shall restore you in Jesus name. His word says whatever the cankerworm or caterpillar have eaten he shall restore them, the cankerworm and caterpillar refer to the tragedies of life, the difficulties in finances, the setbacks of life and so on. Look at what the Bible says in Isaiah 3:10 – Tell the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their labor. So it shall be well with you in Jesus name.
In the Book of Ruth, we read of a story of a woman called Naomi. Now Naomi means sweetness or pleasant. Now we read that there was famine or hunger in Israel and Naomi and her husband Elimelech decided to move their family to a better country called Moab. So they moved with their two sons. In the land of Moab their sons grew up and got married to Moabite women called Ruth and Orpah.
Unfortunately for Naomi in the land of Moab even though there was plenty to eat her husband and two sons died. She lost everything, she was a widow with no children or grandchildren. She was miserable and desolate, she ran away from her country due to famine and in this new land she now lost everything. Sometimes like Naomi some decisions we take may not end up as we expected and may leave us in suffering, pain and probably regret.
So Naomi decided to return back to her home country without anything, she told her daughter in-laws to move on with their lives but Ruth one her daughter in-law insisted that she would follow her and will worship her God and die anywhere she dies. Naomi was so bitter that she changed her name from Naomi meaning pleasant to Mara meaning bitterness.
But some great blessing came to Naomi from the least expected person, her daughter in-law Ruth. In Bethlehem Ruth met one of Naomi’s rich relatives called Boaz, because Ruth was very well behaved and cultured, despite being a widow Boaz married her and God blessed them with a son called Obed. Now Ruth was the great grandmother of the famous King David. See what the bible says in Ruth 4:14-15; 14The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Wow what a happy ending. God is able to restore you. After Job lost everything due to the devils temptation, he lost all his children, his wealth, his health and so on. See what God did for him in the end in Job 42:10. After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. So God gave Job double for his trouble. So the Lord who restored Naomi and Job can restore you no matter how much you have lost or how many years have been wasted. Just trust Him don’t lose hope. Wish you a blessed day.
