What If God Restored

Questions stir the soul because they do not let faith stay on the surface. The five questions invite an honest look at what has changed, what needs to change, what happens when failure comes, where the Holy Spirit is leading, and what trusting God would make possible. Jesus himself pursued questions, asking far more than he directly answered, and that posture invites people to sit in the silence, listen, lean in, and learn from God.

Joel begins with devastation. The locusts have eaten the crops, stripped away security, and exposed a people whose physical and moral senses have gone dull. Joel refuses to pretend everything is okay. The call is simple: stop, pay attention, gather together, and cry out to the Lord. Lost joy, lost hunger for God, lost compassion, lost courage, and lost willingness to learn cannot be restored while they remain hidden or denied. “You can’t restore what you pretend isn’t broken.”

God brings the people to the center of the problem in Joel 2: “Return to me with all your heart.” The return to God is the one thing that changes everything connected to it. Marriages, finances, fears, failures, relationships, and the future may not be fixed overnight, but God at the center reshapes how each of those things is seen and carried. The question becomes less, “How do I fix everything?” and more, “How do I make God the one thing?”

Joel also faces failure that cannot be managed away. The coming judgment is real, and the people do not receive a quick fix or a detailed escape plan. Joel calls elders, children, priests, families, and the whole community to fast, pray, weep, and worship. Failure magnifies what is already in the heart. Fear can freeze people, but the Holy Spirit can lead them toward the next faithful step.

God answers a devastated people with a promise: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” The Spirit is not reserved for a select few, because sons and daughters, old and young, servants and leaders are all invited into God’s extraordinary work. God may not light up the whole staircase, but God gives the next step.

God’s restoration reaches beyond the years the locusts have eaten. Joel moves from loss, to return, to trust, to Spirit, to restoration. God does not only restore what is around a person. God restores what is within: joy, hope, courage, purpose, hunger, trust, and the willingness to follow. God can take what looks like the end and write another chapter.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Name what has been lost [09:22] Joel begins by making the devastation visible. Spiritual drift often hides behind busyness, comfort, or the assumption that God’s blessings are automatic. Honest confession is not self-condemnation; it is the place where restoration can finally begin. [09:22]
• 2. Return to God as the center [12:35] God does not first demand that every broken area get fixed. God says, “Return to me with all your heart.” When God becomes the center again, every other burden begins to come into a different focus. [12:35]
• 3. Failure reveals what leads the heart [18:57] Failure does not create character out of nowhere; it magnifies what is already there. Fear can drive people into hiding, control, and despair. Faith gathers people before God and asks for the next faithful step. [18:57]
• 4. The Spirit gives the next step [22:48] God’s Spirit is poured out on ordinary people, not only the strong, polished, or certain. The Holy Spirit may call for forgiveness, repentance, patience, service, speech, or silence. God often gives enough light for obedience today rather than a five-year plan. [22:48]
• 5. God restores more than circumstances [28:07] God’s promise reaches deeper than replacing what the locusts consumed. God restores joy, courage, hope, purpose, and the ability to hear and follow him. Restoration begins when people turn toward God and trust where his Spirit leads.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:40] - Five Questions for Faith
• [03:41] - The Beauty of Questions
• [06:27] - Joel and Judah’s Crisis
• [07:03] - What Has Been Lost?
• [11:05] - The One Thing That Changes Everything
• [13:53] - What Happens When Failure Comes?
• [19:34] - Letting the Holy Spirit Lead
• [24:19] - Trusting the God Who Restores
• [27:16] - Lost, Return, Trust, Spirit, Restoration
• [29:00] - Closing Prayer

Bible Reading

Joel 2:12-13
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” [12:35]

Joel 2:28-29
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” [21:17]

Joel 2:25
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you.” [24:42]

Observation questions

1. In Joel 2:12–13, what actions and attitudes are connected with returning to God, and what does the passage reveal about God’s character?
2. What losses did the locust devastation represent for Judah beyond simply ruined crops? [09:07]
3. When danger and judgment were approaching, who was called to gather, and what were they called to do? [17:35]
4. In Joel 2:28–29, which different kinds of people are specifically included in God’s promise to pour out his Spirit?

Interpretation questions

1. Why does God call people to return to him with their hearts rather than merely showing outward signs of sorrow? What might the difference look like in a person’s daily life? [12:35]
2. How does putting God back at the center change the way a person faces problems in marriage, finances, fear, failure, or the future, even when those problems are not immediately removed? [13:18]
3. What does Joel’s call for the entire community to fast, pray, and worship suggest about how believers should respond when someone is facing failure, grief, or crisis? [18:28]
4. Joel 2:28–29 says that God pours out his Spirit on all kinds of people. How does that challenge the idea that only especially strong, gifted, or experienced Christians can be used by God? [21:35]

Application questions

1. If your faith were exactly where you wanted it to be tomorrow, what would be different? Is there joy, hunger for God, courage, compassion, prayer, or trust that needs to be restored? [07:32]
2. What loss or brokenness have you been tempted to ignore, minimize, or cover up? What could it look like to honestly bring that area before God this week? [08:20]
3. What “many things” are you trying to fix or control right now? How might returning to God with your whole heart become the one thing that brings the rest into clearer focus? [13:49]
4. When failure, disappointment, or uncertainty comes, what is your usual response: hiding, controlling, blaming, freezing, or reaching out for prayer? What would one faithful next step look like in your current situation? [18:23]
5. Is there one area of your life where you need to listen more carefully for the Holy Spirit’s leading? Could the next step be forgiveness, an apology, patience, serving, speaking up, being quiet, stopping something, or beginning something? [22:19]
6. What worry would you release if you trusted that God can write another chapter after loss? What courageous act of obedience might become possible? [26:50]
7. God restores more than outward circumstances; he restores what is within. Which inner gift—joy, hope, courage, purpose, hunger for God, or willingness to follow—do you most want God to renew in you? [28:07]