DAY
16

A PROMISE OF RESTORATION

ZECHARIAH 9:9-13

Come back to the place of safety,

all you prisoners who still have hope!

I promise this very day

that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles.

ZECHARIAH 9:12

ISRAEL HAD a long history of being oppressed by their enemies and eventually defeated by them. Judah’s inhabitants had been taken captive into Babylon and dispersed throughout the Persian Empire and beyond. The lamentations of God’s people filled their poetry and songs. They were familiar with hardships, disappointments, and heartache. As participants in a fallen world, so are we.

Our instinct is to call out to God. We are told that he is “always ready to help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1), and we search the horizons of our lives in anticipation that he will soon step into them with his wisdom, power, and love. The Bible, the resurrection of hope in Jesus, and the many testimonies we have heard have conditioned us to expect his deliverance. We are captive to the promise of his goodness.

God has profoundly encouraging words for captives of hope—those who have lamented the trials and tribulations of life and stubbornly clung to their insistence that he is good. He promises restoration—not just a return to previous conditions, but a double blessing in exchange for the losses of the past. The words of Zechariah offer two blessings for every trouble; Isaiah 61:7 echoes the promise with double honor in place of shame and a double portion of prosperity in land once lost. God demonstrated the principle with Job, who lost everything he had and received twice the recompense in the end. We might question such extravagance, but with God, nothing is too good to be true. The prophets’ words were written to people who had suffered the consequences of their own rebellion and sin. The double restoration was promised even to those whose losses were their own fault. God is just that generous.

It isn’t unusual for God to give more blessings than we need. There may be delays; he sometimes spends years setting up his “sudden” victories. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, and many others had to persist in hope. The angel’s announcement of a miraculous birth may have seemed sudden to Mary, but the Messiah had been promised for centuries. Heaven and earth converged in the womb of a young mother at a pregnant moment in history—“when the fullness of time had come” (Galatians 4:4, ESV)—and they converge in the fullness of our times too. The help we need from heaven will certainly come, in double portion. The extravagant promises of God are given for one purpose: to resurrect hope in our hearts. And hope will be fulfilled.

PRAYER

Father, may I live not with the skepticism of the world but with the anticipation of your goodness. If a promise seems too good to be true, it might just be because of who you are. Fill me with expectant hope always. Amen.

REFLECTION

What losses would you like to receive “double portion” for? Why is it important to remember that our lamentations have an expiration date, but God’s promises do not? How does that encourage you to hope in patience and persistence?

DAY 16

DAY
16