When God says He’ll give you back better than what you lost, believe Him!! Consider Job in the Old Testament. After God rebukes Job’s three friends, Job responded to God in faith, and “the Lord gave to Job twice [double] as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).

When David lost the child he had with Bathsheba, he stopped pleading and started worshiping God because he trusted in the mercies of God. Later, God blessed David and Bathsheba with another son named Solomon, who became the wisest and richest king the world has ever known.

We have all lost something during these pandemics, but God promises to restore double for our trouble. The Lord promised in Zechariah 9:12, “Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.“ Beloved of God never forget, if God declared it, God will do it! It’s literally impossible for us not to have hope that things will be even better than before. That is why in the same verse, He calls us “prisoners of hope.”

Hope in the biblical sense irrefutably means to have confident expectation of good things happening in your life and we should all be prisoners of that! When we truly foster this concept we can’t help but wake up feeling hopeful and we can’t help but to expect good things to happen in our lives!

The Message paraphrase of Psalm 103:13 is spot on: “God makes everything come out right; He puts victims back on their feet. He showed Moses how he went about his work, opened up his plans to all Israel. GOD is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, He’s rich in love. He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love to those who fear him. And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins. As parents feel for their children, GOD feels for those who fear him. He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we’re made of mud. Men and women don’t live very long; like wildflowers they spring up and blossom, But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly, leaving nothing to show they were here. GOD ’s love, though, is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear Him, Making everything right for them and their children as they follow His covenant ways and remember to do whatever He said.”

Lastly, as we continue to find our way back to medical normalcy and social stability it’s imperative that we do not succumb to the lure of worry, doubt, frustration, anxiety, or anger! Instead, let us worship and praise God like David! The troubles we’ve already endured have opened doors for God to bless us with more than what we originally had. And because God has declared it’s our responsibility to be confident that we will receive it—double for our obedience, faithfulness, worship, and praise!