Scripture prompt
What Does It Mean to Repay You for What the Locusts Have Eaten?
Joel 2:25
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten —
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm.”Joel 2:25 NIV
The first time I heard this saying was in a women’s Bible study. The leader prayed over me asking God to restore to me what the locusts had eaten.
Locusts?! What do grasshoppers have to do with my problems?
She explained that this saying came from Joel, a prophet who wrote the prophetic book in the Old Testament.
Having lived through a terrible plague of locusts that destroyed Israel’s crops, Joel shared visions of the future by referring to this tragic plague. He wrote about the final judgement and restoration of God while using the locust invasion as an illustration.
Judgement
The locusts devastated the harvest — including grape vines and fruit trees — from the current crop but also the seed for future crops.
God is perfectly holy, and although He is patient, God will not allow His children’s sin to go on forever. He may allow us to suffer the consequences of our sin or He may discipline us or both.
