“Restoring Lost Years” emphasizes God’s promise to restore and renew the lives of those who come to faith in Christ. For many of us who failed to accept the Lord’s invitation to a personal relationship until well into our adult years, we grieve for those “lost years” when we walked with the Enemy. We know the people we hurt, and it grieves us. God, in His grace and mercy, encourages believers to leave those past regrets behind, embrace God’s plan for the present and future, and trust in His power to transform our lives. He promises to restore the years “the swarmig locust has eaten.”

This is Part 2 of a two-part series on Lost Years. Part 1, “God Says: Forget the Past,” appears here.

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“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust.” – Joel 2:25 (NKJV)

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A CHRISTIAN MESSAGE

By WARD PIMLEY

Pastor, Journalist, Author

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PREAMBLE

GOD’S WONDERFUL PROMISE or those redeemed in Christ — those of us who have received God’s free gift of salvation through faith in Christ — is that He will bring joy and wonder in abundance, more than enough to compensate for the lean years, those years we lived without Him in our hearts.

Coming to faith in Jesus Christ is like turning on a light switch in our hearts. We see our “before” years as walking in darkness, and our “reborn” years as walking in the light.

Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”  – John 8:12 ESV (also John 9:5)

The psalmist said of God, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”– Psalm 119:105 NKJV

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.” – Matthew 5:13-16 ESV

So, yes, when we come to the Lord in humility and sincerity and submit our wills to His, He baths us with His light, and we walk with more joy and peace than we knew before.

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YOU’LL RECALL in “God Says: Foreget the Past” we discussed God’s call on our lives to avoid living in the past and living with regret – those lost years before we came to faith in Jesus Christ. [You can find that message here.]

This time, we are focusing on the new life God promises to those of us who have heeded His call to repent of our sins, to turn from our self-centeredness, and to submit our wills and life goals to Him.

With this rebirth, we can look back on our former lives and see the waste and loss of precious time spent in discouragement and pain, spent chasing after our own rainbows, relishing diversions to deaden the pain of our being lost, and how we simply marked time in life.

Don’t despair! Be grateful! In our text source today, the Bible tells us that God will restore those lost years and make them productive. That is, He can and will use those lost years to help us become more productive and more zealous for Him in our new lives. That promise is available only to those who love Him and are called to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28)

I certainly believe He has kept that promise with me by giving me this ministry to proclaim God’s love for us, which is the task that most gladdens my heart.

This message explores the biblical promise of restoration and renewal for those who have come to faith in Christ, emphasizing God’s power to redeem lost years and transform lives through His grace.

PART 1. RESTROSPECTIVE (1 of 3)

THIS IS A wonderful follow-up message for me to give because I love to focus on God’s rich promises. This one, especially, strikes home because it follows last time’s message with God’s encouragement for us to leave the past alone, to let it go, so we can open our lives to what God has planned for us now. 

Instead of just regretting lost opportunities in the past, He calls us to focus on the new opportunities He is presenting to us now; and He says if we focus on the past, we’ll miss the cues, the signs of where He’s calling us to go.

Our wallowing in grief because we failed to follow His guidance when we were younger will do nothing for our present life, nor will it set us up for embracing a future that could be exactly where God wants to take us.

I have found that, since turning my life over to Jesus Christ in November 2010, He has come in and taken over – often (I must admit) against my wishes – but always (I must admit) to my benefit.

With Him in charge,

• I have stopped drinking alcohol
• I am more patient
• I am more considerate of others
• I strive to be obedient to God
• I ache because of my sins
• I ache for those I have hurt in my ‘before-Jesus’ life.

In their place,

• I have a strong desire to read His Word
• I love going to Him in prayer
• I enjoy singing songs of praise
• I want to help others, especially in line with my gifts
• I feel joy in my heart and peace in my soul.

Those are gifts from God. All of this is His doing. 

I do not want to give the misimpression that I am a completed being, for I am not. Like many of us, I am a work in progress. My part was to repent of my sin, recognize my need for a Savior, and then open my life to His guidance and leadership.

So, when I say, for example, “I am more patient” or “I am more considerate of others,” that also could be reversed to say, “I am less impatient” and “less inconsiderate of others.” That’s what the progression means.

I become more “less impatient” and more “less inconsiderate” as I walk with Christ and let Him lead me in faith.

Since for so many years I failed to live according to His standards, holding His in-dwelling Spirit in my heart, this two-part series is tailor-made for me; it might also be for you.

The first part of this two-part series focused on leaving the past behind; this part of the two-part series focuses on letting God restore the lost years, what the Bible calls, “the years the locusts ate.”

We rejoice in the richness of God’s blessings when we let Him restore the richness of lost years to us. 

If we let Him, those blessings He will give us in our new lives will more than make up for the lost years. I can assure you; they certainly have been for me.

For reassurance, the Bible tells us:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

PART 2. CHARTING OUR WAY FORWARD (2 of 3)

ANYONE WHO HAS “come to faith” as an adult, whether in their 20s or 40s or 70s or anywhere in-between, sees a clear demarcation between the “before” years and the “after” years.

Those who came to faith earlier in life and wandered during their rebellious “Jonah years,” may feel similar remorse.

They may well fall into the sin of remorse, of wishing so much they had come to know the Lord in a personal and intimate way earlier in life — or continued their walk with Him uninterrupted — so much so they may be less receptive to the new gift God is providing.

Satan is redirecting their attention away from where God is calling them that, left unchecked, they’ll miss the new life that God is restoring to them.

Yet the Bible tells us:

• “Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.” – Psalm 90:15 NLT
• “Weeping may endure for a night, But joy [comes] in the morning.” Psalm 30:5b NKJV

We look at those words from Scripture, and we can see how God recognizes how we might well grieve over our lost years. 

Even Jesus, in His earthly life, wept, but He wept for us, not for Himself. 

Two times, the Bible tells us He wept. Once, when His friend Lazarus had died and once when He was entering into Jerusalem at the start of Passion Week, when He lamented the Jews failure to recognize what the Bible calls “the day of their visitation.” 

[That day, by the way, was prophesized to the day in the Old Testament.]

We can see from our text sources that God shows us a way forward, a door opening in front of us, with the pathway laid out. All we need to do is, through faith, take the first step forward, go through the doorway, and keep going down the path before us.

So many of us are afraid to take those steps, but our God is a patient God, and He is compassionate. 

If you are one of those who fears taking the next step, do not be surprised if the Lord brings someone into your life who He has tasked with giving you a helping hand.

“For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” – 2 Corinthians 6:2 ESV

PART 3. FULL RESTORATION OF LIFE (3 of 3)

WHEN OUR ENERGY is diverted from living-for-God to remorse for having rejected Him earlier, God cannot use us for His Kingdom.

Why is that?

Because instead of looking forward, where the path is leading, we keep looking behind us where we have been. We are not marking our progress; we are reliving where we were and hoping somehow to conjure up a different outcome.

Meanwhile, God is calling us to move along with Him on the path He has laid out for us to reach the goal He has in store for us … and do not miss this … that will provide a different outcome.

The outcome that will give us peace lies ahead of us, not behind us. Where are you going?

God has worked through me to give me a new purpose to life, one I had never imagined possible, yet one that fulfills Scriptural promise that He can and will turn our ashes into rainbows, our coal into diamonds, our pumpkins into chariots.

Those lost years we spent foundering about? He can turn those into productive years boosted by the character He’s built in us when we suffered. 

Think of an oyster, which makes pearls as a defense mechanism against irritants, such as parasites or food particles. The oyster secretes layers of a substance called “nacre” around the irritant which, over time, produces the pearl. 

You probably knew that; didn’t you? 

I didn’t; I had to look it up.

Okay, then what, if anything, holds you back? 

Don’t let anything stop you from embracing all that God has in store for you, but it will require you to give up self-loathing, self-pity, defensiveness, and then replacing it with a humble heart that’s open to God’s love and grace, that is open to His teaching and His leading.

The Bible gives us this promise:

“To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” – Isaiah 61:3 NKJV

FINAL WORDS

WHERE ARE YOU GOING? How are you living your life? Are you wasting your days wishing and hoping and planning and scheming … or are you trusting in the One who gave you life in the first place to come alongside you and redeem your life?

It’s your choice. 

God has given each of us the choice to decide how we want to spend the days He has allotted us. You can choose for good or for ill. But if you choose for ill, do not blame God or anyone else for the outcome that might not be what you want.

If you choose good … and that’s the choice God wants you to make … He can and will shower you with blessings. They might not be worldly riches, but they will be the type that will make eternity for you an extreme pleasure.

We know that God will give us rewards in Heaven based on our faithfulness on earth. Those rewards will be similar to the rewards He graces us with now. Those who are most committed to Him will feel the most peace, the most joy, the most fulfillment. Those who are less committed will find their rewards limited to just existing.

We need to focus on how God’s Holy Spirit redeems our hearts and souls and energizes us with a desire to live out the Gospel.

When we do, we won’t need to look back with remorse, with regret, but instead we will want to look ahead with anticipation. The Bible says God will “replace the evil years with good” and “restore … the years … the swarming locus has eaten.” 

Our eternal life starts the day we receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives and extends past our earthly deaths into all eternity. 

While our yesterday was filled with weeping, the psalmist assures us “joy comes in the morning.” 

“I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.

You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit. Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. 

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. 

When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” Lord, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. 

To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.” 

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.” – Psalms30:1-12 NIV

You can have that joy, that promise of blessing, that reassurance of God’s faithfulness, if you want it. All you need to do is open your heart to the God who created you and who calls you to fellowship with Him.

You need to leave the past behind, take hold of His outstretched hand, and let Him guide you into the future.

Today, will you let Him into your heart and renew you? 

“Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. … Behold, today is the day of your salvation.”

Praise God!

PRAYER

O LORD, we praise Your wonderful name! We give thanks, O Most High, for your steadfast love and bountiful mercy and grace. You not only have promised us an eternity with You in paradise, where we will look upon Your face and You will be our God and we will be Your people, but You have assured us that eternity starts here, in this life, in this world, the moment we come to You in childlike innocence and proclaim, “Lord, I am a sinner in need of Your grace. Thank You, O Lord, for Christ’s work on the cross for me. I believe He is Your Son and that He lived a perfect life as a man and died for my sins and rose to glory as the first to be resurrected from the dead.” So, too, we, O Lord, will be raised from the dead at Your command. Thank You. We praise You, O Lord. In Jesus’ powerful and majestic name, we lift this prayer. AMEN and AMEN