October 29, 2020

Daily Devotionals

october 29, 2020

O children of Zion, be glad

and rejoice in the Lord your God;

for he has given the early rain for your vindication,

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

the early and the later rain, as before.

The threshing-floors shall be full of grain,

the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

I will repay you for the years

that the swarming locust has eaten,

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,

my great army, which I sent against you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,

and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.

And my people shall never again

be put to shame.

Joel 2:23-27

Our passage today is from the little prophetic book called Joel. From details in the book itself, we know that Joel lived in Judah and was familiar with temple worship and with Jerusalem. We aren’t sure when he wrote, or who the king was at the time, but it does sound as though Joel’s time was full of judgment and suffering for the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Part of the suffering is because of natural disasters: devouring locusts, famine, and drought. Joel says that the natural disasters have come because the nation has sinned against God, and that judgment for the nation’s sins is going to come as the Day of the Lord, a day of defeat, fire, and devastation at the hands of the Lord’s army. Yet repentance and renewed closeness with God is still possible, and there is still hope that the Lord will have pity on them and bless them again. The passage above describes what it will be like when the Lord does bless them again. That phrase, “I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten” is so arresting that it makes me stop and think. Do we, too, have years that the locust has eaten?

Here we are seven months into such a year. 2020 seems as though the locusts have eaten it, sure enough. Students can’t go to school. Jobs and homes have been lost. We are suffering through a difficult election year with division in our national soul that goes painfully deep. We can’t do simple things without planning for safety: going to the grocery store, or a graduation, or funeral, or wedding, even visiting relatives, or going on vacation, or voting in person. All of it is very difficult now. Plans for new ventures have been scuttled or shelved. We have friends and neighbors and loved ones who have been sick with COVID-19, and even some who have died. We grieve the loss of intimacy and trust as we draw back from gatherings and embraces. 2020 has been eaten by the locusts of this pandemic.

We might think of other times in our lives that the locusts have eaten, times when our own appetites and actions have blighted our lives and the lives of others. We might remember times when our own greed or envy or desire has wrecked relationships. We may have invited the locusts in and then watched in horror as they devoured our lives.

Our passage reminds us that God is waiting for us when the locusts have gone away. God is waiting to build us up and nourish us, to forgive us and give us good gifts. God can even find ways to give us back the years the locusts have devoured. As we turn to God in grateful amazement, we find the center of life in Him, the One who cannot be taken from us even by locusts, famine, or pandemics. Even our own failures cannot drive Him away.

For Reflection

What have you lost in 2020? When you read this passage, do you think of other times in your life that have been locust-devoured or blighted?

What will it look like when God gives us back what the locusts in our lives have taken? How have you seen that in your own life?

What will it be like for us as a nation as we recover from this time?

Prayer

Dear Lord, as we look over the landscape of our city and our country, we see so many signs that the pandemic has brought us low, even made us turn upon each other. We have had losses of our own, and we see our friends and neighbors suffering as well. Some of us find that we have let loose the locusts on our own lives and inflicted pain and damage all around us. Have mercy on us, O Lord. Restore us and help us to bring restoration to those around us. Lord, we will wait for You to restore to us all that the locusts have eaten, for we depend on Your grace daily. Bring to us the joy of Your presence. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Rev. Vicki Franch

Pastor for Pastoral Care

404-842-2571