Joel 2:25
“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.”
God is a good god. The locust is a devourer. It comes and consumes the crops of the farmer. That’s a bad thing. Yet, He calls them His army. They were sent by Him for a purpose. Why would He do that? Sometimes it’s a punishment for our disobedience. It gets our attention and brings us to our knees. Other times we don’t get a reason. It makes us go to Him to renew our trust.
There was a time when Jesus saw that the people followed Him because He fed them and performed miracles. He also came to train the twelve and die for sins. He didn’t want a popular movement. So, He said some difficult things to drive those with wrong motives away. It worked and many left. Then He turned and said to His disciples, “Will you go also?” Their response is in John 6:68, ‘Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”‘ We’ve got the same answer. We may go through trials that we have no answer for. Some may leave Him because of them. But where would we go? He has the answers and He is the Answer. So, we trust Him.
Romans 8:28 is an amazing promise. He works all things for the good if we love Him. No one else can do that. He is an all powerful God. The difficult times come for our improvement. No one can make that promise. We can’t even do it for ourselves. But He can.
Today’s verse tells us that God will restore to us that which the difficult times took away. Amazing. He did those things for our betterment. Yet, He still restores. Outside of Jesus, Job was the greatest sufferer in the bibles. But look at Job 42:12, “So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first.” That’s what God does.
Lord, thank you for this. Another great trait of Yours. We are due nothing. Yet, You love us and bless us. We are just ants in the scheme of things. Yet, Jesus came to die for us and then if we follow Him He showers us with blessings. Thank You, Lord.