REPENTANCE
AND RESTORATION
“Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered...I acknowledge my
sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” – Psalm
32:1, 5 (KJV).
Sin always opens a person up to loses and
destruction. It hinders desirable breakthroughs, derails progress and
ultimately destroys a person’s life and fortunes if it is not dealt with
rightly and timely. Repentance is the only right response to sin. It means “a
radical turning from sin to a new way of life oriented towards God”.[1]
It involves acknowledging one’s sins, confessing them, and asking for
forgiveness from God and offended persons.
Repentance usually goes hand-in-hand with
forgiveness of sin, reconciliation and restoration of a covenanted blessing.
Generally, repentance and restoration are, respectively, the sole
responsibility of an individual or a group of persons, and God. “If they pray
to me and repent from and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I
will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous
again” – 2 Chronicle 7:14(GNB). In Psalm 51:12, King David asked God to restore
to him the joy of salvation after he had genuinely repented of his sins. Thus restoration
only comes after a genuine repentance.
Joel 2:12-27 and Luke 15:11-24 are graphic
illustrations of the solid relationship between repentance and restoration. The
former and latter passages of scripture deal with the sins of a group of people
and that of an individual respectively. In Joel 2:25-27, God promised to reconcile
with His people and restore the years of harvest they have lost as a result of
their sins. However, their genuine repentance was a conditional precedent to
the said restoration (Joel 2:12-18). Similarly, in Luke 15:11-22, a younger son
who rebelled against his lovely father, and consequently lost his fortunes and relationship
with the father, received restoration after genuine repentance. What do you
need to repent of in order to receive restoration?
Richard
Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom
Blog:
www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com
Email:
richardobengmensah@gmail.com
[1]
William D. Mounce, Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old &
New Testament Words (Zondervan 2006).
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