Joe 2:25 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you.
Joe 2:26 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 be put to shame.
The literal scenario depicted here is that of a land invaded successful by locusts for quite a while. This could have been actual locusts ( The four types of insects named in Joel 1:4) or four monarchs of the Assyrians which in turns, were oppressive to the Jews, one destroying what had escaped the fury of the other. ( Mathew Henry’s Commentary)
Whatever it was, it left behind a trail of destruction. It left them in dire need of everything. But there is hope after the call for repentance. Yahweh was going to pay them in full for all the wasted years.
God was going to comfort them according to the time that they had been afflicted. They were going to have “years of plenty to balance the years of famine”. They were going to have great abundance of all good things.
The situation today is not different. Some of us have already declared year 2020 lost. Some have lost several years under various unfavorable circumstances. Child of God cheer up! Our heavenly Father knows how to make up for the lost years. He will restore the wasted years – A time for payback is coming!
Additional readings:
Exo 12:35,36
Lev 26:5
Joel 1:4-6
🙏Blessed Weekend🙏