The Devastation of Locusts

A promise of restoration- Joel 2:25

Have you ever seen complete and utter devastation? Floods, earthquakes, fires, and pestilence all cause earthly destruction. It always appears that there is no possibility for restoration because the destruction has caused complete and utter ruin.

What was being addressed by the prophet Joel? The land of Israel had become devastated by chewing, swarming, crawling, and consuming locusts! (1:4) The land was in mourning; the grain was ruined, and their new wine was dried up. Why had such devastation come upon them? Their hardened hearts, disobedience, and their failure to remain vigilant to the voice of the LORD.

When we remove moral boundaries, and shut out the voice of the LORD from our lives; when we continue to allow the erosion without coming in to repair the breaches, there will be price to pay.

We have all seen someone restore an old car, an old home, or restore an overgrown piece of land. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment to make something beautiful that was once left to rust or rot!

What about a person? Have you seen or known…or been such a person that appeared incorrigible? Too broken, too addicted, too old, too many times divorced, etc? The lives that “the locust has eaten.” There seems to be nothing left but devastation and ruin!

I’m so grateful that the God I love and serve is a God of restoration! It’s what He does best! There is no one that can redeem and restore like Him! He gives us beauty for the ashes in our lives. (Isaiah 61:3

What does He mean when He says restore? It means to be finished, be completed, to be at peace, to repay, make restitution, recompense…..what the enemy has eaten in our lives- to consume, destroy, and devour. We know that Jesus told us in John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

The locust may have come to destroy your life, or our land as a nation….however, we have the One who promises to restore; and not only restore, but to do it abundantly!

Don’t look back and lose heart over what has been destroyed. Hold on to the promise of His restoration in your life, and in the life of our nation as a whole!