“Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be restored. Renew our days as of old.” (Lamentations 5:21, NKJV)

As Jeremiah watched all the atrocities happening to his people, he knew that this had all happened for one reason only: they had disobeyed God and worshiped and served other gods. They had turned a deaf ear to His voice and gone their own way. Now God had done everything He said He would do in the Law and the Prophets. Jeremiah found no fault with God for the terrible consequences that had befallen them. He knew that both they and their fathers had sinned.

And yet…that acknowledgement of wrongdoing, that taking ownership for one’s behavior is the beginning of revival. When we stop blaming others, stop making excuses, and stop dismissing our sins but rather lament over the ways we’ve offended God and people, then real change has already started.

Jeremiah cried out, “Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be restored.” Repentance is a gift and a sovereign work of God. Only God can break up the stony heart and give us a heart of flesh. Only He can circumcise our heart and heal our backslidings. BUT WE MUST BE WILLING. Oh yes, here is that great mystery of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Of course, we could still argue that it is God who works in us to will and to do according to His good purpose. Nevertheless, we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13).

It is all about turning back to God, as the prodigal son came home. There he found his father waiting with compassion, and he ran to embrace and kiss his son (Luke 15:20). The father killed the fatted calf to celebrate, and he restored his son to the family. The young man’s days were renewed as of old. And he discovered that everything he ever wanted was to be found in his father’s house.

May our days be renewed as they were when we first fell in love with Jesus!