God Restores

Are you experiencing a famine in your life right now? Perhaps you have been laid off from a job. Maybe after a season of achievements you now feel like no one is recognizing you. Perhaps you have just experienced another miscarriage. Maybe your adult child’s choices have left you grieved and disoriented. Perhaps your marriage is difficult and you’re discouraged. Maybe parenting has left you exhausted and overwhelmed. Perhaps a relationship needs to be restored but the other person won’t reconcile. Maybe you are weary of fighting the same sin of anger, envy or lust. Regardless of what kind of famine you are facing, you likely feel broken, confused, exhausted, and overwhelmed. 

During seasons of doubt, trouble, and uncertainty it can be tempting to wonder if things will ever get better. It can be tempting to doubt God’s goodness. It can be tempting to wonder if God’s ways and wisdom are really better than ours. It can be tempting to wonder if God can restore what seems broken beyond repair. Thankfully, God’s Word reminds us that God does indeed restore the years that seem destroyed by sin and suffering, whether our own, or that of another’s, or both. 

In Joel 2:18-27 we find ourselves at the halfway point of the book. The first half of the book describes a locust plague that was ravishing Israel, warns God’s people of future judgment that would be even greater than the present destruction, and calls God’s people to repent of their sin and return to the Lord, who “is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (v. 13). In the second half of the book we learn of God’s mercy. He will bring an end to the present plague, restore what His people have lost, and give them a glorious future. 

Amazingly, even after all the wrong that His people had done, “the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people” (Joel 2:18). He will not share His glory with anyone or anything else. Such jealousy and pity leads Him to end the famine and satisfy His people. The locust plague pointed to God’s judgment, but His relenting hand pointed to His grace. All those that repent and return to Him will experience forgiveness of sins and a future with Him.

Just as God drove the Egyptians into the Red Sea, drowning them in judgment, so too He will drive out the locusts with the wind, delivering His people from destruction (Joel 2:20). Ultimately, these acts of deliverance in the Old Testament point to the greatest deliverance of all. Jesus came to destroy sin and death and Satan, so that we might be delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and live forever with Him.

At a time when there was every reason to fear, the Lord exhorted the land, the beasts, and the people to not fear, but to “be glad and rejoice” (Joel 2:24). Likewise, when you and I have every reason to fear, we should turn from fear to faith “and rejoice in the LORD your God” (v. 23), who has given us abundant blessings in Christ. Indeed, “the LORD has done great things!” (v. 21), but we must have eyes of faith to see them. Through our suffering God accomplishes our sanctification.

Famine will not have the final word. God promises that He will restore His people. “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25). Don’t miss that God sent the devouring locusts. Perhaps that’s not initially comforting to you. But when we’re in the midst of suffering, it’s important to remember that God is sovereign over all. Indeed, He ordains our suffering. But the same God who is sovereign to send the trials is also the one who can end them. Ultimately, He will. In the new heaven and the new earth there will be no pain (Rev. 21:4). 

God’s amazing grace will lead His people to praise Him and find their satisfaction and security in Him. They will not be put to shame again. “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” (Joel 2:26). Many of you know shame today. You feel shame because you lost the job. You feel shame because your marriage and family didn’t turn out the way you had dreamed. You feel shame because you haven’t accomplished what you had hoped. You feel shame because of someone else’s sin that impacted you. Be encouraged! God removes shame. He satisfies. He deals wondrously with His people. If you think God is ungracious, unmerciful, and unloving, look again at these verses in the book of Joel. See the heart of God. Yes, He sends trials, but He also sends blessings. He restores and provides. For the people of God, the result of famine is never ruin, but repentance and restoration and righteousness. As you look to God by faith today, remember the same is true for you. The famine in your life right now is not meant to ruin you, but to bring you to repentance and restoration and righteousness.  

Sarah Ivill (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary) is a Reformed author, wife, homeschooling mom, Bible study teacher, and conference speaker who lives in Matthews, North Carolina, and is a member of Christ Covenant Church (PCA). To learn more, please visit www.sarahivill.com.