I know God goes to great extremes to bring his children back to Himself. I've had my own attitude adjusted several times. Thank goodness I had sense enough to come to Him with a spirit of repentance before I was completely eaten up by bugs!
Joel 2 ~
12"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments" Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil. 19 The Lord will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied in full with them; and I will never again make you a reproach among the nations. 25 Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, my great army which I sent among you. 26 You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; then My people will never be put to shame."
As Matthew Henry states:
"God is Lord of hosts, has every creature at his command, and, when He pleases, can humble and mortify a proud, rebellious people by the weakest and most contemptible creatures." (Matthew Henry Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible, p. 632)
I'm not a Bible Scholar but from what I've gathered, the land of Judah was ravaged by locusts and grasshoppers and various other insects. The prophet Joel called the Jews to repentance and God answered them and promised His blessings and restoration.
In my daily life I see people who have been ravaged. They've had their lives eaten by insects. Or they've been chewed up and spit out and find themselves in places they never thought they could be. I've been there myself on a smaller scale. Recently I spoke with a man who related his sad, sad story to me and he ended up with, "And then I cried out to God." And I heard the sincerity and hope in his voice. Immediately the image of a grasshopper appeared in my mind and I spoke softly, without even thinking, "God can restore what the grasshopper has eaten - the Bible says so." (The Bible actually says 'locust' but I saw a grasshopper in my mind and went with it). And I do believe that when we sincerely surrender our hearts to God and admit our mistakes, He will redeem the time and help us make up what was lost. I've seen it happening in my own life and now I plan to sit back and watch it in someone else's life. What a privilege it is to serve God and be a witness to His wonderful miracles!
In my daily life I see people who have been ravaged. They've had their lives eaten by insects. Or they've been chewed up and spit out and find themselves in places they never thought they could be. I've been there myself on a smaller scale. Recently I spoke with a man who related his sad, sad story to me and he ended up with, "And then I cried out to God." And I heard the sincerity and hope in his voice. Immediately the image of a grasshopper appeared in my mind and I spoke softly, without even thinking, "God can restore what the grasshopper has eaten - the Bible says so." (The Bible actually says 'locust' but I saw a grasshopper in my mind and went with it). And I do believe that when we sincerely surrender our hearts to God and admit our mistakes, He will redeem the time and help us make up what was lost. I've seen it happening in my own life and now I plan to sit back and watch it in someone else's life. What a privilege it is to serve God and be a witness to His wonderful miracles!
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