Joel prophesies about a time when a great swarm of locusts has invaded Israel like a marauding army and has consumed everything in its path. The result is great famine and suffering. God sent the locusts in judgment for their sin, but then he calls them to repentance. In his call for repentance he makes this great promise: “I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten.”
God’s mercy is so great. We know that sin has consequences and sin brings judgment. Sin destroys the sinner, and robs him of all joy and peace. But God is so generous to us when we repent that he will restore the years we have lost. Of course, we can’t literally go back and live that time again. Much that was destroyed remains so. But he restores our hearts and heals our wounds. And he redeems the lost years by finding a way to use for good what we had meant for evil. (Rom 8:28, Gen 50:20)
This promise means so much to me because I strayed from God for so many years. When I first came back to him I felt such a profound sense of loss at the time I had wasted. But God showed me that he had used those years to teach me a lesson I could learn in no other way. And now I can share with others the truth that was so dearly bought in my life: that God is merciful and good, and that he deserves my full devotion.
Lord, for those whom I hurt in my time of rebellion, for those who may also have strayed because of me, I pray that you would show them the mercy you have shown me. I pray that this promise would one day be theirs – that you would restore the years the locusts have eaten. I believe that if you let them persist on their wayward path it is only because there are lessons they can learn no other way. I pray they would learn them quickly. Amen.
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