24/02/2026
2026-02-24
TOPIC: Promised Restoration
by Pastor W.F. Kumuyi
Our texts of devotion are taken from the book of Joel 3:1-8, and it reads:
[1] For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
[2] I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
[3] And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
[4] Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
[5] Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
[6] The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
[7] Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
[8] And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
KEY VERSE: For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. (Joel 3:1)
MESSAGE
In Christianity, God is both a God of love and of justice. Many people struggle with this reality. They believe that a loving God can’t be a judging God. Christians and ministers alike, have asked this question literally thousands of times, “How can a God of love be also a God filled with wrath and anger? If he is loving and perfect. He should forgive and accept everyone. He shouldn’t get angry.”
God’s wrath is far from a cranky explosion. It is a settled opposition to the destructive cancer, which eats out the insides of the human race He loves with His whole being. The Bible says that God’s wrath flows from His love and delights in His creation. He is angry at evil and injustice because it is destroying its peace and integrity. Our devotional Scripture underscores God’s deserved judgment on recalcitrant Tyre and rebellious Zidon because of their debauchery, human trafficking and the spoilage of His temple. On the other hand, He gave God’s beleaguered people something to cheer about – restoration to their land although things looked bleak and hopeless.
This speaks about the mind of God towards all sinners and backsliders today. Regardless the depth of spiritual destitution, the shame of retrogression and the bleakness of the future, the backslider still has the assurance from God that “He restores my soul”. God is the restorer of strayed souls and the lifter up of the heads of the downcast. He is the Savior of the sinner and the Possessor of the “power to become sons of God”.
A resort to God in repentance, brokenness and heart-contrition offers backsliders and sinners a refuge in Christ, who has already faced the wrath of God on the penitent’s behalf when He was crucified at Calvary. This is the only way to salvation and restoration for the contrite and those ordained for life eternal, by their deliberate act of the will to fully surrender to the Lord.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
There is retribution for the recalcitrant and redemption for the repentant.
Trust you are blessed by this devotional, like and share with others.
God bless you.
