Monday, December 15, 2014
How many times have I heard my buddy believers quote this verse? They love to!
Joel 2:25—“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten”
They love to quote this – partly because they have an infatuation with sounding cryptically prophetic – and partly because they really want to believe that God will restore to them what has been lost. And He does. But what they rarely, if ever think about or ask is…why did HE send the locusts to begin with?
See everybody and their uncle likes the God of restoration, of renewal, of mercy and forgiveness – they push to the front of that line to hop on His wagon – but it never ceases to amaze me how their pride and arrogance blinds them from seeing the rest of who He is.
The God that you want restoration from is the SAME God who sent those locusts. The God of mercy is also the God of justice. The God that you are asking forgiveness from is also the One who has a major problem with sin.
The truth is – there can be no renewal, restoration, return of what the “locusts” have eaten without repentance.
If you think that makes what I am proposing “legalistic” or hard or mean…then you seriously need to revisit the Bible that you love to regurgitate, because you are so busy spitting out selective scriptures, that you have never taken the time to digest it to begin with.
You are so busy overlooking the fact that it is God who sent his judgment into your life – a very real consequence to the evil that you love. Even if you do recognize that, you are so quick to jump into sermonizing on receiving what the locusts have taken – that you completely miss the whole repentance thing. Again – why did He send the locusts to begin with?
Have you intimately come to know what God really thinks of you? Do you agree with him? Do you agree with His opinion on sin? On your sin?
You are not being asked to remove all sin and evil and hardness of heart from your own life, you are not being asked to manufacture sorrow for sin, but what I am asking, is that you stop defending your sin. Stop feeding your fat, insatiable pride with all the excuses we’re all familiar with. Stop focusing on what God needs to restore and instead focus on admitting and addressing what attracted the locusts to begin with. THAT is your real work to do.
My mission in life is not to comfort you as you sin – it isn’t to go to meetings and church groups with you so you can show off what you know about the Bible all the while you are living like a devil – and have no conscience about it. My mission is to call you to repentance. Even if you stop liking me.
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God? Joel 2:12-15
“The conclusion of this section of Joel summarizes God’s intention for the restoration: “And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame” (Joel 2:26-27). God must deal with sin, but when His people repent, they find abundant blessing that more than compensates for what was lost in the judgment. His grace abounds.” – GQ
Recovered In Christ 
It is refreshing to read about the Bible by someone who actually reads it.
Amazing really. Thank you for bringing the meaning out of it rather than putting your meaning into it. Big difference!
This is fantastic. I completely agree. This is the reason so many never truly deepen and ripen in their spiritual life – they get hung up on a few verses that promise renewal but they have no intention of submitting to the construction phase.
It is rampant in my area. We desperately need more leaders and teachers to step up!
Double Amen!!!!
LOL…story of my life!! When repentance seems like “work”, when the basic foundation of believing that you are a sinner in need of a savior is too much “work” for you – you are not ready for the Christ.
Amen!