I thought I was just frustrated and having a bad day at work. But I realized it went much deeper than that.  What I was actually longing for was for Jesus to come back and make all things new.

That might sound overly dramatic, but let me explain.

It’s been a wacky few years in my office.  There have been about a dozen personnel changes over the past 24 months.  People coming and going, job changes, administrative changes, scheduling issues and a fair amount of stress.  So several weeks ago when it was just one…more…thing… I felt like I had been pushed to the edge of my sanity (now that’s being dramatic).  And I sighed, looked out the window and thought to myself, “I just want everything to be right again.”

At the time, I didn’t realize how Biblical that longing was.

As I thought about my mini-meltdown later, God reminded me that every time we’re frustrated and stressed over situations that could be better, what we’re really longing for is restoration – the restoration of all things.  We long for everything on this earth to be right again, to be like it was before our sin messed it up, to be like it was in the beginning when God said, “It is good”.

Sometimes it’s more than just silly work drama. The Christmas season itself can stir up that sense of longing for “rightness” even more. Our holiday celebrations may be missing people we love.  Our futures may be uncertain, our worlds turned upside down in spite of the joy of the season.

But Jesus is coming back someday, and for those who have put their faith in Him, everything will be made right.  No more frustration.  No more stress.  No more disappointment and discouragement.  No more unanswered questions.

Restored.

And He that sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new”. Revelation 21:15

We just don’t know when that will be. We might make it to heaven first, or we might be here to see it in person. But either way, that’s why we need to keep hanging on, persevering through the hard times, clinging to the promise that everything that threatens to defeat us or break our hearts or test the limits of our sanity will be made absolutely new.

When we find ourselves in those situations where we long for life to be made right again and good again, including the situations we tend to over-dramatize, we need to let them remind us that everything WILL indeed be made right. Someday. In ways far beyond our comprehension.

Perfectly and joyfully right.

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:19

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:  Isaiah 40:4

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  Hebrews 10:23

For he satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.  Psalm 107:9