Hope

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. Joel 2:25

Hope, that powerful essence which helps us look beyond the bleak and difficult days we’re living with anticipation that something better is on the horizon, and gives us confidence that we will discover the beauty that we can’t see. We all need hope. It helps us persevere through difficulty. The prophet Joel writes a short but important book helping us to understand the power of hope. It’s not hope hung on nothing though. The hope Joel describes hinges on repentance. Earlier in verse 12 and 13 he describes the kind of repentance that leads to hope. “Rend your hearts and not your garments,” he declares, helping us to understand that this repentance needs to be felt deeply not just outwardly displayed.

But what was so bad?

God’s judgment had come to his people through a swarm of bugs—locusts. If you refer to 1:4 you will meet them. Four swarms of locusts had raided the crops. With these clouds of bugs, they had brought destruction to the landscape. The crops were wasted, the trees were bare, the buds were wilted, the tender stalks of wheat were laid flat on the ground to rot before they matured. The seeds for the following year would not come. The wine would not be poured because the vine was eaten at the root. The olive oil would not be pressed because the trees were bare sticks. The grass the grazing animals depended on was just dirt. Four swarms had turned summer into a wasteland. It’s hard to hope in an atmosphere like that.

Hope that comes through repentance is a miracle-forming hope because the God who sent four armies of locusts (a harsh miracle) is able to bring restoration in the most beautiful ways.

Are you struggling? Does your future look bleak and harsh? Look inward; explore the inner recesses of your motives, and desires. See if there is anything in you that offends the holy God. If you find it turn from your sin toward the God who created you, loves you, and seeks you. In that moment you find HOPE, not the fake kind that will leave you stranded but hope in a God who will rescue you, restore you and fill your life and your land with good things.

Prayer for today:

Father, please search my heart, see if there is anything in me that needs to change. Please be my Lord and restore the wasted years. Amen.

Blessings,

Pastor Wes