Yesterday, I was reading from the devotional book, Streams in the Desert, and this phrase jumped out at me: “the years the locusts have eaten.” I’ve heard it several times lately — and I’ve never heard it before in my life until now. Have you?
It’s from Joel 2:25-26:
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…(NIV)
Now here are three places I’ve heard it recently:
1. From Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman. Her devotional from 11/22, “Dealing With the Past,” says this:
It has often been said, and with truth, that Christianity is the only religion that can deal with man’s past. God can “restore the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25); and He will do this when we put the whole situation and ourselves unreservedly and believingly into His hands. Not because of what we are but because of what He is. God forgives and heals and restores. He is “the God of all grace.” Let us praise Him and trust Him. –Sunday School Times
2. I read it a couple of days ago in the Guideposts story, Marion’s Marriage. Marion Bond West used this phrase when quoting from her book, The Nevertheless Principle.
No matter what is taken away from you, if you keep your eyes on Jesus and praise Him, He will restore it to you. You will be joyful to the exact same degree you have hurt. What you have lost will be replaced . . . joy for mourning . . . beauty for ashes. . . .God I don’t see how it could possibly work now. I don’t see how You will ever come to me again in any shape or form. But I won’t limit You, so I’m going to remember this moment for the rest of my life. And if and when You restore the years that the locusts have eaten, I will tell people about it and write about it. I am committing to You to remember this agony, and if You can come up with some kind of joy to the equivalent that I hurt, You are truly a God of miracles.
3. After hearing that phrase twice in two days, I remembered a writer I met at Glorieta. I’d signed up to attend Jan Coleman’s “Roundtable Discussion,” which was on how to interview people. She shared how she researched for her newly released book, Unshakeable. And she also showed us an earlier book of hers: After the Locusts. Here’s what she says on her website about the book:
My first book, After the Locusts; Restoring Ruined Dreams, Reclaiming Wasted Years, reads like a novel and stems from my personal story. After my husband left his family for someone else, a stranger showed up at my door with a casserole in one hand and a Bible in the other and shared a promise from the Old Testament Book of Joel. (2:25) If I turned my heart toward God, he would restore the years the locusts had eaten. That’s exactly how I felt, like a swarm of icky bugs had swooped down and devastated my dreams, destroyed my future. This verse became my life’s promise, and I not only survived the storm, but thrived in spite of them. There is hope, after the locusts. Now, there is a deep valley in my soul, not a dark valley, but a giant crevice where joy has settled in, a joy I’d never known without the storms that once ravaged.
You know, there are a lot of people in this world who are living “after the locusts.” Recently, someone typed the keywords “Christian Mom Blog Tired Depressed” into a search engine and found my site. (How did Google know to find me?) God bless you, Christian mom, whoever you are! I wish I could give you a hug.
I enjoyed meeting Jan last month — and regret that I’m still not caught up and haven’t written to thank her. Here are some pictures she’s posted on her website, including one of the casserole-bearing “prophet in blue jeans.” Now I’m thinking I’d like to read her book. (Anybody looking for a good Christmas gift idea for me?)
P.S. I apologize that I don’t have many pictures on my site — I thought about putting a picture of a locust on here — but I was afraid some of you might be eating a doughnut or something while you skim the news and views. (Plus it would take me an hour to figure out how to do it. Sorry, Lanier — you tried, and I’m still not there yet!)
Edit: Another post about this verse: from Two Talent Living
