What’s Gone is Never Really Lost

There may be a few of you who were touched by God at a very young age, who responded to His call to be His and have lived dedicated, mostly regret-free lives.  But that’s not true for most of us.  Life is messy, and the vast majority of us have made it even more so.  We miss opportunities to do right; we fail in our obligations before God and those we love; and consequently we leave a trail of damage and brokenness behind us.  I’m not a farmer, so I’ve never had to deal with the old Biblical vision of damage done by locusts.  But that’s what our lives seem like sometimes.  Lost opportunities; damaged relationships; wrecked legacies.  If we WERE farmers, our fields have been devastated.

But our God has an answer to every problem.  Buried back in the Old Testament prophecy of Joel is this amazing truth:

Be glad and rejoice, For the Lord has done marvelous things...the open pastures are springing up, and the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.  Be glad then…and rejoice in the Lord your God…the threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.  “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”  Joel 2:21-25

If you are agriculturally-challenged, God is saying through Joel that He can bring amazing abundance, even from devastation.  Go back and read the first part of Joel 2 and discover the ravages caused by Israel’s sin.  If that feels like where your life is right now, what you think is lost can be restored through the generous hand of our loving God.  Notice I didn’t say your sin’s damage could be “repaired”; I said “restored”.  God brings abundant generosity and grace into our lives when we choose to belong to Him.  And while we assume we might have irreparable damage trailing behind us, God says, “I can replace that.”

You see, as Joel gave voice to the truth of God’s restorative power, he continued in Chapter 2 with these words echoed by Peter on the day of Pentecost:

This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams…And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Acts 2:16-21

God’s promise of restoration and abundance is tied to another promise: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Wow.  God WANTS to pour His Spirit into YOUR life – sons and daughters, young or old – when you cry out to Him in repentance.  It’s by His Spirit that the devastation of your sin is replaced by new growth; it’s His power in your life that brings abundance from ruin.  You think you’ve messed things up so badly that everything you hoped for in your life is lost?  Wrong!  This year’s harvest will be so big it will more than make up for last year’s loss!  I don’t know about you, but if I was a farmer, I’d invest in crop insurance just to make sure I didn’t lose everything in the event of a locust swarm.  God offers you an even better deal because He’s already paid the premium – Jesus took care of that on the cross.  So when you belong to Jesus, what have you really lost?

Jacob