"The God who restores"
The Lord says, "I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you. (Joel 2:25 NLT)
Joel 2:25 is one of my favorite verses in all of the Bible. The people of God have endured many difficulties of late, one of them being pestilence. Swarms of locusts have decimated their crops because of their disobedience to God. And here, God promises to restore to them the years that the locusts have eaten. This gives hope that what has been is not the end. Restoration beyond our imagination is available.
We all have some degree of destruction in our past. Whether it's things done to us that are out of our control or consequences for our personal actions, we have all been robbed of wholeness at one point in time. We have all blown it. We have royally jacked up our lives & the lives of those around us. We are emotionally, spiritually, & relationally broken & in need of a Savior. Sometimes it feels like we might never be whole again.
Enter Joel 2:25.
God has the ability, & more importantly the willingness, to restore to us the years that the locusts have eaten in our lives. God can take those years & give them back. We might not be able to live life over again, but we can move forward in our lives with wholeness. This is what we see in God's people in Joel.
Enter Jesus.
The promises in Joel are fulfilled ultimately in Jesus. Who not only forgives us but restores us to wholeness. We have been destroyed by self & Satan & in Christ, God delivers restoration. Wherever there is brokenness, he will bind up. Wherever there is woundednees, he will make whole. Wherever there is bitterness, he can enable release. Wherever there is callousness, he can soften. He can & will restore the years that the locusts have eaten.
What are we waiting for, run to him!
What areas of our lives have we been robbed of wholeness? Who can you forgive for things done to you? Where have you repented of sin & need to know God can restore?
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