July 1

July 1.

The LORD says, "I will restore what you lost to the stripping locusts, the cutting locusts, the swarming locusts, and the hopping locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you!" Joel 2:25

It is God who says, "I will restore." Only the divine hand can do it. Christ is the restorer, for he has made atonement for us.

Wherever there is a Christian who is hurt by sin or sorrow-the face of the Christ on the cross, beams on it with healing in its beams. "By his stripes-we are healed." By his wounding-our wounds are cured. His visage was marred-that the marring of sin in our faces might be changed to beauty. By his sorrows-our sorrows are comforted.