DAY OF THE LOCUSTS 8-16-26
There is a day spoken of in the book of Joel that we would do well to remember. It was called the day of the locusts. The land had been devastated. The crops were destroyed. The trees were stripped bare. Joel said, "For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion” (Joel 1:6). It was a day of destruction and a warning from God.
The day of the locusts reminds us that sin destroys. Sin will take what we have and leave us with nothing. It will strip the joy from our lives, damage our families and destroy our fellowship with God. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Sin always takes more than it gives.
The day of the locusts reminds us that God's people need to wake up. Joel said, "Awake, you drunkards, and weep” (Joel 1:5). There is a danger of becoming spiritually asleep while the world around us is dying in sin. We can become comfortable, careless and indifferent. We need to wake up and realize that we are living in eternity's shadow.
The day of the locusts reminds us that God wants us to return to Him. "Now, therefore, says the Lord, turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning" (Joel 2:12). God did not tell them to pretend everything was all right. He told them to return. "So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful" (Joel 2:13).
The day of the locusts also reminds us that God can restore what sin has destroyed. "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25). What a wonderful God we serve. We may have wasted years. We may have made terrible mistakes. We may have brought destruction into our own lives through sin. But God is still merciful. He still calls us home.
The day of the locusts was a day of judgment, but it was also a day of opportunity. God was giving His people an opportunity to repent and return to Him. "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). We should never mistake God's patience for God's approval.
God is still calling sinners today. He calls us to trust in Jesus (John 8:24). Therefore, we should not wait.
The locusts came. They destroyed. But God called His people to return. That is still the message we need today. Sin destroys, but God restores. Judgment is real, but mercy is available. The question is simple. Will we continue in our sin, or will we return to the Lord?
BDD
