By Kimberly Davidson
In the Old Testament, the prophet, Joel, tells a tale of utter destruction. Joel 1:4 states, “After the cutter-locusts finish eating your crops, the swarmer-locusts will take what’s left! After them will come the hopper-locusts! And then the stripper-locusts too!” This was no ordinary event. This was a locust epidemic! Apparently, swarms can reach great sizes. A swarm across the Red Sea in 1889 was estimated to cover 2000 square miles. Can you imagine?
Abuse can make us feel this way—utterly taken over and destroyed. But there is more to the book of Joel. There was destruction, famine, and hopelessness for a time, but God did not leave His people this way. In chapter two He offered this promise:
I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten– the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed (Joel 2:25-26).
I cannot tell you what restoration will look like in your life, nor can I tell you when it will happen. Some of us will see broken relationships mended, others of us will build our own healthy families, and some may have to wait for heaven where all the wrongs will be righted, where all the wounds are healed and tears wiped away.
As we struggle in our locust fields, we need to remember that God knows where we are. There is no sorrow or desolation beyond the reach of God’s restorative power. The psalmist had great faith, “Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up” (Psalm 71:20). Charles Spurgeon wrote, “However low the Lord may permit us to sink, he will fix a limit to the descent, and in due time will bring us up again. A little God would fail us, but not Jehovah the Omnipotent.”[i]“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
“Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours” (Isaiah 61:7).
[i] Spurgeon’s Treasury of David, Classic Bible Commentaries.
