Restoration

Joel 2:25-27

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,

The crawling locust,

The consuming locust,

And the chewing locust,

My great army which I sent among you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

And praise the name of the Lord your God,

Who has dealt wondrously with you;

And My people shall never be put to shame.

Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel:

I am the Lord your God

And there is no other.

My people shall never be put to shame.

Do you ever look back over your life and think what might have been, but you feel like it's been stolen from you?

All the chances that were squandered, all the unanswered prayers, unfulfilled dreams and ambitions seem to have been eaten up by the "locusts" of time and everyday hum drum life.

In this passage it states that God Himself has sent these destructions into His people's lives in order to strip bare everything else they have put their hopes in.

Apparently, when a locust swarm comes on a land, it leaves nothing but skeletal remains in its wake. Even tree bark and leaves are gone. The starkness of the landscape is tangible. Emptiness and devastation are all that remains.

It seems like this COVID-19 is acting like a locust swarm for many... stripping people of their health, savings, work, freedom and hope ... we have yet to see what is left when this current "swarm" has departed. Like a cloud of locusts - it's hard to see anything clearly right now.

Yet there seems that there is no area of our lives that remains untouched.

It's tragic.

With God, however, there is hope - the only real hope. He promises restoration and a new life of divine provision.

Perhaps the Lord is waiting for us to come to the end of ourselves, so we will recognise our Redeemer!

Many are interceding for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit to turn people's hearts around towards Jesus.

We have Joel's prophecy to pick up and run with:

Joel 2:28-32

28“And it shall come to pass afterward

That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

Your old men shall dream dreams,

Your young men shall see visions.

29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:

Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness,

And the moon into blood,

Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

32 And it shall come to pass

That whoever calls on the name of the Lord

Shall be saved.

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,

As the Lord has said,

Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

Of course Peter used this passage in his first sermon at Pentecost [Acts 2] - but we can see it has a more contemporary meaning - referring to signs in the earth and heavens.

Encouragingly, the chapter ends by stating that WHOEVER calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!

Let's call on our faithful Lord to pour out His Holy Spirit on this land so that many will call on His Name and be saved.