When I was six years old, I loved to visit my cousin’s lake house. We’d play in her backyard hammock and giggle as we listened to the locust clicking their wings in a blissful sound. However, my giggling didn’t last long. It soon turned into an ominous fear when I turned eleven.
In Sunday School I read about the plague of the locust in Egypt, the one that “devoured everything growing in the fields.” (Exodus 10). No longer did I enjoy the resonances of these flying insects. Their ability to thunderously descend like a tornado upon their target scared me.
Many of us have experienced what I call the “locust seasons” of life, those days, months or even years that strip us of the good crop, that is, what we most desire: a happy life, well-balanced children, or a promising career. It’s easy to believe that in those “years of tears” – (locust times) God has forgotten us. But He has not. In fact, my favorite verse in Joel refers to God’s promise that as a result of our obedience to Him, He’ll renovate our lean years.
Then I will make up to you (compensate) the years that the swarming locust has eaten – and you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and you shall speak well of me, the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. Joel 2:25-26
Often in that verse we get so excited about God’s pledge to work our locust experiences for a higher profit, that when the Father does reveal how He’s weaved them together for good, we forget to give a public tribute of thanksgiving to His name. In fact, just recently God brought to my attention how He’s restored my locust days.
- After many years of praying for my son and his family who live in Hawaii, the Lord has blessed me with their return to Oklahoma just six days ago – yes, two days before Mother’s Day!
- After many hours of praying for an unfettered heart toward my former husband, the Lord has blessed me with a compassionate desire for his well-being.
- And after many months of praying for God to use my life for His highest calling, the Lord has blessed me with an award in Washington, D.C. that continues to astound even me!
The swarming locust seasons are just that, nothing more than a season, serving as a perfect opportunity to eventually see the hand of God redeem what was lost. I’ve come to know that when the sieve of God’s perfect timing unites with the sieve our belief that God is faithful, we’ll see first-hand THE ALMIGHTY’S bountiful goodness unfold.
