For a people jaded by these latter months, a promise of refreshing is hugely welcome. But the weariness is not only down to the struggles of lockdown and its easing; sin wrecks havoc in every soul and its guilt is “a burden too heavy to bear” (Ps. 38:4). Life in a fallen world causes us to “groan inwardly” (Rom. 8:23). Who can see the sorrows around, who can experience loss and pain, and not long for times of refreshing?
Peter’s words are so clear - repenting and turning to God, putting our faith in his Son, brings the deepest refreshment and the greatest relief. A new day has begun; light has dawned upon those who were living in the deepest gloom; it is ‘golden hour’ for the soul. This renewing is uniquely gifted to us in the gospel of God. His love lifts burdens and welcomes us home - the truest refreshing.
But Peter’s words take us further. Heaven has received the Messiah “until the time comes for God to restore everything”. The fullest, most complete and through transformation and refreshing yet awaits us. The end of pain and separation. The healing of every wound, the salving of every bruise. Our hearts will be filled and filled again in the ever-flowing stream of God’s own radiant joy. We will feast on his goodness and bear within ourselves the unfathomable riches of the love of God.
The experience of God’s saving mercy and the refreshing it brings combines with the prospect of a future that simply cannot be described to lead us to pray, now, for those times of refreshing. Not to authenticate the Lord and his Word; not to satisfy a sense of curiosity, nor to dodge the call to take up our cross and follow Jesus. But, simply, to know him more, to know his nearness in the weariness, and to glorify him through that enjoyment. To be renewed by the relief his love breathes into our burdened hearts, in the midst of the years, in the tangle of our travails.
Such seasons may not last overly long but each moment, each instance, is a further pointer to the ultimate fullness when God will restore everything - all things made new. Those glimpses of glory galvanise our hearts as they offer comfort in the chaos of life. And we can ask him to bring those times of refreshing, so desperately needed, to our hearts, our churches, our communities.
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I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to Thee.
Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope
And my will be lost in Thine.
O the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God,
I commune as friend with friend.
There are depths of love that I yet may know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I yet may reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
(Fanny J Crosby, 1823-1915)
