Waiting Patiently For Restoration When It Feels Like The Day of the Locusts

“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)

When I think about how quickly circumstances can change, for good or bad, it is somewhat shocking to me. I saw the very rapid decline of my health over about a year’s time, and now I’m seeing the improvement of my health in a short period of time. It doesn’t seem possible that circumstances could change so quickly.

There was a period when I wondered if I was dying. I was so weak before my surgery I wondered how I would ever recover the strength from it. Yet even in my dark hours God sent blessings of encouragement, wonderful nurses, a surgeon who was a Christian and asked to pray with me before the surgery. Sometimes our days can look dark indeed, and yet God gives us hope.

In the verses above, Israel has just been set upon by a plague of locusts that ate every plant in sight, yet the prophet Joel promises them ‘green pastures’ will come again. We musn’t give up hope, if we will ‘hang in there’ better days will come, and God has not forgotten us even in our darkest hour.

Today you may feel like ‘locusts’ have eaten up all the good in your life, yet I would encourage you to hold on, to look up, and know that God has good things in store for you despite your present circumstances. I would have found it hard to believe that I would regain weight and strength in a matter of weeks after my surgery, especially after a year of steady decline, but what the ‘locusts ate’ God can restore. Keep hoping and believing in God’s ability to restore your life, to give you peace and joy in spite of current circumstances.

Prayer: Dear Lord, sometimes it seems we lose more and more ground to the ‘locusts’ in our lives. Restore what the ‘locusts’ have eaten, restore us, Lord. Amen.

About The Author:
Karlton Douglas lives in Ohio with his lovely wife. He has found God to be faithful in all circumstances.