The Years the Locusts Have Eaten

Nothing is known of Joel except that he was the son of Pethuel. he probably lived in Judah about 500 to 350 B. C. He saw God's coming judgment on his people and called for repentance. He tells us about a locust plague which God used to judge his people. It ravished the country and destroyed everything in it's wake.
Joel saw this plague of locusts that he vividly describes as the sign of the impending Day of the Lord, and urgently summoned the people to a great fast, calling for weeping and mourning and repentance. Rend your hearts and not your garments. (Joel 2:12).

This Day of the Lord would be the judgment of God for sin. Only through repentance and a change of heart would the Lord "restore" their joy and pour out His Spirit upon them.

Now, I've never seen locusts swarm, but I have seen "army worms." When we lived in Houston, TX many years ago, we had a beautiful lawn of St. Augustine grass - green and lush. One morning we woke up and looked out - and it seemed that the grass was waving and moving. It wasn't the wind - it was covered, and I mean covered, in "army worms." They had come into our neighborhood and were destroying every yard around. Thousands of them. Within an hour they had eaten all the grass in the front yard. We ran to the hardware store, bought the appropriate pest control, sprayed the yard, and killed them all. The damage was done - but it took weeks for it to recover. I'll never forget the sight.

This passage reminded me of that experience. These locusts had eaten every crop, every vine, every tree, and destroyed everything in it's path. I wonder - have you ever felt like the "locusts" have taken something from you? Have you lost your "crop" - has something devastated you? Some of the most beautiful verses in these three chapters are Joel 2:25-26.

I will restore to you the years which the locust has eaten . . . You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you.

Have you lost your job, your health, your family, your self-esteem? Remember Job that we studied not long ago? He lost everything, yet he did not lose his faith in God. He remained faithful to the Lord even though the "locusts" had come. We must learn to develop this kind of faith and trust in the Lord during our years of want and times of hardship.

The Bible says in Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV) Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields yield no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

May God give us the faith and strength to hold on to Him through plenty and want and the years of the locust. And as Paul says, to . . . learn in whatever state I am, to be content.