Restored Relationships Through Jesus (Psalm 30 Devotional)
Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones. And give thanks to His holy name. For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night. But a shout of joy comes in the morning. - Psalm 30:4-5
Our God is gracious, quick to forgive, and faithful to the end. He desires that our relationship always be set right when there is a breakdown in it.
When an important relationship is strained, it is as if we are carrying around a heavyweight. Darkness looms and nothing in our life seems quite right. It is burdensome and weighs us down.
We all want our broken relationships restored. We want people around us who are quick to forgive and faithful to the end. From our closest relationships - our spouse, parents, family, or friends - we desire grace to be given, for people to give mercy and think the best about our motives, even when we don’t deserve it. And we yearn for them to reconcile damaged relationships.
There are a few moments sweeter than when we look another person in the eye to admit our fault and ask for forgiveness, and the other person forgives and restores the relationship. We can laugh again, and the weight is lifted, and we feel free.
Unforgiveness in a relationship is like a stream that’s been blocked. It builds up debris and gets stagnant and even putrid. But forgiveness is like clearing that stream and letting the cool freshwater of love flow again.
Our relationship with God is just like that. He desires when we fail that we come to Him and admit our fault, repent, and accept forgiveness. He desires to restore our relationship with Him, and when He forgives, it is 100%.
And He pursues us. He stands at the door and knocks. He seeks us even in our fallenness.
For any person who trusts in Jesus, God has saved us from the penalty of sin not because of the righteous things we have done, but because of His mercy. Listen to the words of scripture.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8
“If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9
“You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” - Micah 7:19
Thank God for those truths from His word. God has spoken these things in His love letter to us. We can trust them to be true.
We are not just redeemed but relationally restored by the blood of the spotless Lamb. He loves us more than we can ever imagine and desires our relationship to be right.
And that really does give us a reason to sing!
Questions For Thought
Have you ever had a relationship that was broken and then restored?
How did it feel when it was restored?
Do you think God desires our relationship with Him to always be restored?
