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Examples of those who had a comeback
To make a comeback is to return to your former position after a period of fall or failure. The Bible has enough stories to challenge us to accept that falling or failing is not the end of it all. So far as God lives, there is hope of a comeback when we fall or enter a period of difficulties and recession. Therefore, we can boldly say that our Lord is a God of restoration, recovery, and second chance. We are going to look at the stories of individuals who were great or promising but suffered a period of recession and a cascade of problems and yet, by the hand of God, they came back greater than before.
Moses
From childhood, Moses’s mother kept him safe in order to prevent his being fed to the Nile crocodiles. At some point, the mother’s strategic planning and the grace of God led to the adoption of Moses by Pharaoh’s daughter. Now Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s court as a prince of Egypt and enjoyed the privileges of the same. One could easily predict that Moses’ life and future would be great and far better than his fellow Israelites who, unfortunately, were slaves.
However, when Moses grew up and learned that he was an Israelite, he loved the enslaved Israelites dearly to the extent that, one day, he killed an Egyptian who was maltreating an Israelite (Ex 2:12). Moses then fled the wrath of Pharaoh to Midian to avoid being killed. In Midian, the one-time prince of Egypt was reduced to a hired shepherd who tended the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro (Ex 3:1) for forty years. At this point, it appeared that his dreams and plans for Israel and his own life had been ruined.
However, when Moses turned 80 years old, God appeared to him while he was tending the sheep at Mt. Sinai. God gave him a mission to return to Egypt and gave him signs to prove that indeed he had been God-sent as the leader and the instrument of the salvation of the Israelites (Ex 3:1-17). In this way, Moses made a comeback and was brought into the limelight again as a great person. At the end of his story, Moses was reckoned as a great and successful leader who led the Israelites out of Egypt.
Job
Job’s story is the story of a great rich man who became poor and diseased and then became richer and greater than before. Job was a god-fearing man who lived in the land of Uz. Because he feared God, he became the greatest man in the East for God blessed him with 10 children, 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 oxen, 500 donkeys, and a large number of servants (Job 1:1-5). Then to prove that Job was no selfish believer who was only serving God for prosperity, God allowed the devil into his life (Job 1:6-12).
The devil took away everything Job had. When he saw that that was not enough to make Job forsake or speak evil about God, he inflicted him with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head (Job 1:13-22). So the once great rich man Job was reduced to a diseased poor fellow who was mocked by enemies (Job 16:10). No onlooker ever thought Job would bounce back to become the great man he was.
However, after no amount of the devil’s predicament could break Job’s faithfulness, loyalty, and integrity, God restored him to greatness (Job 42:11). He did so by bringing the family and acquaintances of Job to console him and to gift him with a piece of silver and a gold ring each. God made Job have ten children again and get twice the possessions he had before and Job became greater than before (Job 42:11). Amid hopelessness, with God’s help, Job made a comeback.
Manasseh
King Manasseh was the son and successor of King Hezekiah of Judah. He reigned for 55 years, making him the longest-serving king of all the kings of the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. However, his reign was marked by idolatry (2Ch 33:3), occultism (2Ch 33:6), shedding innocent blood (2 Kings 21:16), and abominations such as human sacrifices (2Ch 33:6). The Bible testifies against him that he did much evil in the eyes of God, arousing his anger.
Then God stirred the Assyrians to invade Judah. Manasseh fought with them but lost. And he was captured and taken alive to Babylon where he was committed to prison (2Ch 33:11). In prison, he humbled himself, repented, and prayed to God for help (2Ch 33:12). And when he prayed, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea. Though there was no hope for his deliverance or escape, God had him released from prison and he returned to his kingdom and city as a changed king who undid a lot of the evil things he did (2Ch 33:13).
Conclusion
According to Job 14:7, there is hope for a tree in that even if it is cut down, it will sprout again. We, believers, should build our lives around such scriptures that assure us that even if we face a decline in life, we can recover and come back even greater than before. It is part of our daily trials as Christians to enter into some form of decline such as unemployment, financial hardship, divorce, business failures, loss of position, or a decline in earnings. All these men in the Bible who made a comeback had God’s push. In like manner, we should also look to God for help amid our efforts to make a comeback.