What the Locusts Have Eaten
Dumpster fire, train wreck, unprecedented.
These are just a few ways people have described 2020. To help us mentally cope with the stress and strain, we certainly have stepped up our meme-game. Here are some of my favorites.
So much in this year has been gnawed away by the virus, racial unrest, and politics. I don’t need to list what has been eaten away, right? We all have our own laundry list of what has been chewed up and spit out by this weird year.
The Bible is full of examples of times when people went through plagues or severe conditions when hope was at an all time low.
I have been reading through the little book of Joel over the past few days. A severe plague of locust had gnawed away the land during Joel’s time (see Joel 1:4). He used that event to call people to repentance over their very flagrant sin and prophesy about future judgment if they did not.
Joel used words like ruined, dried up, and fail in his prophesies about Judah. It may not have been 2020, but we can certainly identify with the sentiment.
Joel exhorted people to look internally during this time. He called people to fast, weep, and mourn. In other words, he wanted people to individually and corporately examine themselves and repent.
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and he relents over disaster. Joel 2:12-13
This is the beautiful picture of our loving Father. He wants nothing more than for His children to return to Him. Joel’s words are good medicine for us too. We should be looking inwardly and returning to God with all our heart. It comes with great promise!
I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…Joel 2:25a
We haven’t had a literal plague of locusts in 2020, but we have had a viral plague. And also plagues of hatred and divisiveness and racial unrest.
So maybe we should stop bashing 2020 and start looking forward to the time when God restores to us what this locust-ridden year has eaten away.
God is the great restorer of lost things.
But restoration is dependent upon us returning to Him. Joel 2:13 basically tells us we must change our lives, not just our clothes (MSG). God is always much more concerned with the condition of our heart than our external religious rituals. He can see right through the phony act.
I am tired of the locusts feasting on our land! Who will join me for the rest of 2020 in returning to our God who loves us with an unfathomable love? Let’s focus on His goodness and lovingkindness instead of all of the mess around us and allow Him to restore what the locusts have eaten.
