Money can be restored. Property, cars, paintings, and old houses can be restored. Even relationships can be restored. But one thing that can never be restored is time. Years pass and we never get them back. Yet here we find God promising the impossible: “I will restore the years that the locust has eaten.” [Joel 2:25]
In Joel 2 we read how God’s people had suffered the complete destruction of their entire harvest through swarms of locusts that marched like an insect army through the fields, destroying all their crops for four consecutive years, yet God restored their harvests again and abundantly!
Have you gone through painful, lost, fruitless, difficult, and lonely years? Do you sometimes feel that you have wasted many years of your life? God can restore us when we deepen our communion with Him. Joel 2:27 – “You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD.” Restoration requires that we humbly come to Jesus and confess that He is ALL we need, that He is Lord of our lives, thanking Him for his forgiveness and love – a love that never grows old or dim.
Do you remember Mary, Lazarus’ sister, who poured perfume onto Jesus’ feet and dried them with her hair? [c.f. John 11:2] Luke 7:36 – 38 tells us about another woman who had had a bad reputation, but whom Jesus forgave, who did the same to Jesus as she wept. [In Jewish Tradition, when a young girl was ready for marriage, her family would buy an alabaster jar and fill it full of expensive, perfumed oil. When a man asked for the girl’s hand in marriage, she would take out the alabaster jar, break it at his feet, and anoint them with the oil, a sign of her honouring his request.]
Both women above chose Jesus as their heavenly grooms! Both knew that Jesus had restored their lives so their love for Christ was bigger than anything else. They did not mind anointing Jesus in front of others. All they desired was to show their Lord how much they appreciated that He had indeed restored the lost years in their lives.
Friend, Jesus is right beside you. He promises to never leave or forsake you, but to be the unseen Guest in your home, the unseen One who comforts and restores you daily. Come to Him and pour the love in your heart for Him, onto Him – it is like a sweet-smelling aroma that will bless and strengthen and restore your life.
Thank You sweet Jesus, for rescuing me and for restoring my life from all the wounds, sins, and past years I have gone through. I desire to tell You that I love You immensely and to thank You that the ‘lost’ years will be made up beautifully when I am in heaven with You one day. Amen
Myrtle Turunen