Joel 2:17-32: a reflection

17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, LORD, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” 18Then the LORD was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. 19The LORD answered his people, “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. 20But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things. 21Land, don’t be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things. 22Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. 23“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD, your God; for he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before. 24The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. 25I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you. 26You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied, and will praise the name of the LORD, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed. 27You will know that I am among Israel, and that I am the LORD, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed. 28“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. 29And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit. 30I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. 31The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 32It will happen that whoever will call on the LORD’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the remnant, those whom the LORD calls.

After a devastating plague of locusts has stripped the land bare, God gives his people an astonishing promise of restoration: I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. The locusts had eaten not just a harvest but years, seasons of loss and devastation; and God promises to restore even those lost years, to give back what the locusts had consumed, filling the threshing floors again and satisfying his people. What had been lost and eaten away, God promises to restore.

Notice the promise: God will restore the years the locust has eaten. The loss had been great, years of it, seasons devoured, a devastation that could not be undone by any human effort. But God promises to restore them, to give back the lost years, to make up for what was eaten away. This is a promise only God could make: to restore not just a present need but lost years, to give back what was consumed and gone. What seemed irretrievably lost, God promises to restore, filling again what the locusts had emptied.

That promise of restoration is a great hope, for we too can have years, seasons, that feel devoured and lost. There can be years eaten away in our lives, by trouble, by our own sin, by circumstances beyond our control, seasons of loss that feel irretrievable; and we can grieve them as gone forever. But God promises to restore the years the locust has eaten; what seems irretrievably lost is not beyond his restoring. Do not despair over the years that feel devoured and lost in your life, as though they were gone beyond recovery; God is able to restore even the years the locust has eaten. Hold the hope that God can restore what has been lost, redeeming even the devoured years, filling again what was emptied, as he promised to restore to his people the years the locust had eaten; trust the God who restores lost years, rather than grieving them as gone forever.

Lord, after a devastating plague of locusts has stripped the land bare, you give your people an astonishing promise of restoration: I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. The locusts had eaten not just a harvest but years, seasons of loss and devastation; and you promise to restore even those lost years, to give back what the locusts had consumed. What had been lost and eaten away, you promise to restore. Show me the promise: you will restore the years the locust has eaten. The loss had been great, years of it, a devastation that could not be undone by any human effort. But you promise to restore them, to make up for what was eaten away. This is a promise only you could make: to restore not just a present need but lost years. What seemed irretrievably lost, you promise to restore. Give me that hope, for I too can have years, seasons, that feel devoured and lost. There can be years eaten away in my life, by trouble, by my own sin, by circumstances beyond my control, seasons of loss that feel irretrievable; and I can grieve them as gone forever. But you promise to restore the years the locust has eaten. Keep me from despairing over the years that feel devoured and lost in my life, as though they were gone beyond recovery; you are able to restore even them. Help me hold the hope that you can restore what has been lost, Lord, redeeming even the devoured years; help me trust the God who restores lost years, rather than grieving them as gone forever.