Better Than Before

“And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.” (Eze 36:11 AV)

Ezekiel chapter thirty-six is a great chapter!  It is a chapter of hope and restoration for the nation of Israel.  After they have learned from the unfortunate circumstances of rejection, the LORD reconciles them to Himself and restores them to a better situation than at the very beginnings.  The very beginnings were the start of the nation coming from the bondage of Egypt.  These beginnings were simple.  They came by way of some hard choices and experiences.  Yet, when they crossed the Red Sea, Moses wrote and taught a song for Mariam to sing to the people.  A song of great joy!  God had rescued them from incredibly oppressive circumstances and placed them in their own land.  There were some bumps along the way.  The LORD had to lead them by the way of faith.  They had to learn to trust and obey.  Then, Joshua led them into Canaan.  They learned what sanctification meant.  Again, there was great joy as long as they learned to trust the LORD and follow him.  A few harsh years interspersed among some good years and David shows up.  Through the leadership of David and Solomon, the nation experienced the greatest and most blessed of all years.  As good as all this was, the LORD promises Israel He will restore her to better years then at the very beginning.  These years cannot even compare to that which they enjoyed in the past.

The LORD was good to me and saved this wretched soul in the spring of 1982.  I can remember much of those early days.  They were bittersweet.  A young man of 18 who was raised in a faith tradition that taught everything else was a cult, when I trusted the LORD, it was a shock to those closest to me.  It was like I had gone off the deep end.  Working almost eighty hours in the food-service industry, going to church, and being around other believers was difficult.  It was a very lonely time.  Through all that, I learned the presence of God was more than sufficient.  He gave me peace and joy in my heart which is hard to explain.  He was the only relationship of any depth which I enjoyed.  It was in those early years of hardship and sweet fellowship I learned that God is a God beyond what I could ask or think.  He became my closest relationship and I wouldn’t trade those years for anything in the world.

Then life happened.  I got married, had three children, and studied for the ministry.  Over the years, the LORD has led me to several different ministries.  In those years, there were times I wasn’t as close to the LORD as I should or could have been.  At least not like I was at the beginning.  Even when I was close, it didn’t compare with the simplicity and intimacy which was there when this journey began.  It has changed.  It has matured.  In a lot of ways, it is better.  But in other ways, there is still something wanting.  Life has a way of cooling one’s relationship with the LORD.  We become busier.  We become committed to other things.  We learn, over time, to re-prioritize our relationship with the LORD and our practical walk with Him changes.  There is maturity in our prayer.  There is reasoning behind our discussions.  We pour out our hearts in more than mere emotion.  In the beginning, what did we really know?  We didn’t have the doctrine which we have now.  We didn’t have the experience of how the LORD works as we do now.  But we still miss the sweetness and simplicity which was at the beginning.  We miss the uncomplicated nature of our relationship with the LORD and the singularity of that relationship.

The LORD has promised He will make our relationship better than the beginning.  In eternity, we will have fellowship with one another.  We will see loved ones and rejoice with them of the goodness and mercy of Jesus Christ.  We will join our voices with the voices of the seraphim as we cry holy, holy, holy.  We will wonder at the majesty of our new home with the glory of the LORD Jesus Christ being the glory thereof.  The difference will be, the intimacy and simplicity we had with Christ at the beginning will be eternally greater than it was in the past.  When life gets complicated, we look back at the past and wish for simpler days.  We wish for the good times and forget there were other times, too.  We wax nostalgic as we consider the newness and freshness of salvation.  As wondrous as that was, what is coming cannot even be compared to it.  What is coming will be greater than what was.  This is a promise from the LORD.