When was the last time you experienced the locusts of life? Maybe specific situations are coming to mind, or perhaps you can’t quite put a finger on it. Simply put, these are the circumstances that have ushered in anxiety, loss, or even frustration.
The truth is, no one is immune to experiencing hardship and struggle throughout their lives. However, we serve a God who is more than capable of repairing and restoring us to wholeness.
The Nation of Judah
Joel, the writer of the book by the same name, is a prophet to Judah, a nation in a state of division. God has called Joel to prophesy to this specific nation because they have strayed and become disobedient to the Lord. Now, as a result, they have experienced some traumatic consequences.
You see, God sent a swarm of locusts to eat everything: the crops and vegetation are gone and as a result, the animals are dying. It is important to note that God didn’t just send one generation of locusts; generation after generation of these insects devastated everything within the land.
Unfortunately, this judgment was a direct result of God’s people choosing to live in disobedience. (I often wonder if the reason we are experiencing such turmoil in our nation today has to do with our collective disobedience.)
God’s Judgment In Our Disobedience
What Is Significant About the Locust?
The Blue Letter Bible explains that locusts symbolize “divine judgment or destruction.” God is very intentional about these insects.
In Exodus, God sends locusts through Egypt as part of the plague because Pharoh refuses to be obedient:
“How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.”
Exodus 10:3a-6, NKJV
As part of God’s judgment in Deuteronomy, we read:
“Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.”
Deuteronomy 28:42, NKJV
And in Joel 1, the locusts have come and ruined everything:
“Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. What the chewing locusts left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce lion. He has laid waste My vine, and ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; its branches are made white.”
Joel 1:1-7, NKJV
In the above examples in scripture, judgment has come upon the nation because they dishonored and disobeyed God.
Other Forms of Judgment (Joel 1:9-12)
While God uses locusts to facilitate His righteous judgment, He also uses other forms.
Joel 1:9-12, in the NKJV, says, “The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests mourn, who minister to the Lord. The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree has withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree. All the trees of the field are withered; surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.”
Here we see that not only have the people turned their hearts away from God, but they have ceased sacrificing their offerings to Him. And as a result?
Everything has perished.
The truth is, God is the sustainer of life. When we turn our hearts to Him and make Him Lord of our lives, He provides all that we need. He gives, and He takes away in obedience and in judgment.
However, the incredible thing about God is that while He allows judgment, in His perfect mercy, He always gives us another chance.
God’s Promise of Restoration
For so much of my life, I believed that God was the giver of second chances, but now I realize that puts a limit on His faithfulness. You see, I have gone through chance after chance—too many to count! I realized in my humanity that God’s new beginnings are given freely, as much as it takes.
God Calls For Repentance (Joel 1:13-18)
Our nation has been in conflict with itself and others for far too long now, and I believe that America has ultimately turned its back on God. Unfortunately, we continue to do what is right in our own eyes and have neglected the truth of God’s word.
Currently, as a nation, we are walking in the footsteps of Judah, and as God did so long ago, we too are being called to repentance.
“Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; wail, you who minister before the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God; for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord.”
Joel 1:13-14, NKJV
After God’s challenge for repentance, we glean the consequence of disobedience.
“Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds shrivel under the clods, storehouses are in shambles; barns are broken down, for the grain has withered. How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.”
Joel 1:15-18, NKJV
This judgment is painful and tragic. But God’s story isn’t over yet.
God’s Promise to Restore (Joel 2:18-27)
Throughout time, God consistently gives us opportunities to repent. (Do you, too, ever wonder why He gives us so many opportunities to turn from our senseless ways?)
Scripture shares God’s heart on this very matter.
God Takes Pity On You
“Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people. The Lord will answer and say to His people, ‘Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.”
Joel 2:18-19, NKJV
Saints, this is a reason for a shout of praise: God takes pity on us! Not only did God not give us what we deserved, but He promised to answer and remove the reproach from us!
God Fights for You
“But I will remove far from you the northern army, and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea; his stench will come up, and his foul odor will rise, because he has done monstrous things.”
Joel 2:20, NKJV
God declares He will take our enemy and his armies and send them far away.
Your co-worker tried to get you fired, and in return, they were let go.
A friend or loved one tried to hurt you, but instead, they are dealing with their own heartache.
An acquaintance tried to drag your name in the mud, and now, God is lifting you up!
God’s Blessings Multiply
“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things! Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; for the open pastures are springing up, and the trees bear its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their strength.”
Joel 2:21-22, NKJV
In this passage, we see that God has done something so incredible that even the animals are reaping the blessing of flourishing pastures and crops springing forth!
God Will Restore
“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you—the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. So I will restore to you the years that swarming locusts has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.”
Joel 2:23-25, NKJV
The God that we serve will restore every single thing the enemy has taken from you! Be encouraged:
Your joy is coming back.
Your hope is coming back.
Your shout of praise is coming back.
Your career is coming back.
Your marriage is coming back.
Your ministry and anointing are coming back.
God has and continues to prophesy, “I will restore!” (This promise isn’t just for then; it is for now, the day and the time of restoration.)
Did you know that whenever there was an infestation of locusts in the land, those affected could not find one reasonable cause for their appearance? Once discovered, the people in the land knew their lives were over because locusts were considered unstoppable.
Is there something that feels unstoppable in your life? Be encouraged; no matter what the enemy has thrown in your life when God steps in, He will restore it to wholeness!
For more on God’s promises of restoration, check our Pastor John K. Jenkins, Sr.’s sermon, The God Who Will Restore.
