READING: Hosea 14, Joel 1-3, Amos 1-2
I remember the year when the locusts came out when I was serving in Louisville, KY. Their sounds from the trees seemed like a quiet roar. Their discarded exoskeletons littered the sidewalks. Tree limbs stripped of leaves were evidence of their destructive power. I know what we saw that year was nothing like the Hebrews experienced in Joel’s day, but I’ve never read the book of Joel the same way since then.
For the agricultural society of Joel’s day, a locust plague was a horrendous disaster — precisely what would be needed to call the people to repentance. The destruction would be complete, indicated by vast repeated swarms of invading insects. The proper response of the people was to be marked by multiple steps, including leaders mourning over the judgment, calling for a national fast, and gathering the elders to cry out to the Lord (Joel 1:13-14). They were to repent “with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning” (Joel 2:12).
In one of my favorite verses of the Old Testament, God said He would then graciously give back to the people what they had lost: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten . . . . You will have plenty to eat, until you are full” (Joel 2:25-26). God allows judgment to come, but He then brings restoration and renewal. He is our judge, but He is also our Deliverer and our Restorer.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you experiencing anything suggesting God is calling you to repentance?
PRAYER: “God, thank You for restoring the years the locusts have eaten.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Amos 3-9
*first published in 2016