"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you."
Joel 2:25
I like the idea that God will restore the years that the locust hath eaten... but how? It seems similar to Ezekiel 37:11-14 which talks about the hope to be found in the resurrection. Even if we die, God can raise us up and still keep his promises to us. And that seems appropriate as well in this last-days, end-of-the-world context. Despite the war and desolation and the lack of so many things, God promises all of us, then as well as now, that he will restore to us the years that are lost.
I feel like this has application to our lives now as well. Sometimes we do lose years, maybe not always to locusts, but to disasters and sickness and tragedy and trial. These symbolic "locust years" in our lives are things that God will also restore, because he promises us a happy ending. No matter how the other chapters of our lives go, and what we need to learn through enduring some pain and some hardship, God promises in many places that our mourning shall be turned into joy (3 Nephi 10:10, Psalms 30:11, Jeremiah 31:13, Isaiah 61:3, 2 Nephi 8:11, etc.). If we stick with the story and keep turning ourselves into the heroes that we can be, God, who is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2, Moroni 6:4) will deliver the promised joy. No matter what they look like now, with convoluted plotlines and crazy twists that the self-destructive protagonists seem to relish, every one of our stories can have a happy ending if we turn to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment