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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Joel 1:4
“What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.”
Disaster.
In hot continental climates, one of the most fear-inducing devastations that can occur is a plague or swarm of locusts. We read in Exodus that God sent a plague of locusts after the hail. “So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail – everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 10:13-15). (All because of a rebellious Pharaoh.)
I remember seeing a film years ago about a plague of locusts, which hit the Mid U.S. They were destroying a farm to the point where the owners decided to move out. The locusts were in their food cupboards; they were in their pots and pans; they were in their bathroom; on the floors, up the walls and on the windows. They were in their bedrooms and even in their beds. So the family decided to escape. They climbed into their plane and took off. But it was totally engulfed. As they tried to fly through the swarm, there were so many locusts that they clogged up the engines and the plane crashed. Everything was left desolate and stripped bare. Totally devastated.
Joel starts, “Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the day of your forefathers? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation” (Joel 1:2-3). This had happened because of the waywardness and wickedness of the people. They had deliberately turned their back on God even though time and time and time again, God had had mercy on them and had been gracious to them. But they chose a life of independence and arrogance.
Even the priests had misled the people and compromised the Word of God. So bad had things become that the sacrifices, tithes and offerings were no longer coming in to the Temple. Does that sound contemporary? Why do so many churches and cathedrals need ‘Restoration Appeals’? Why are so many being ‘Sold Off’?
Forsake God and the locusts turn up.
But locusts are just a symptom – or the result of what has already taken place.
Are there locusts getting at you?
Do you find your money being eaten away?
Do things happen all the time, which stop you getting on with what you should be doing?
Maybe it’s an enemy assault. In which case send him ‘on his bike’. But maybe the locusts have arrived from God.
Can I encourage you to stop and consider? Ask yourself - Have I compromised? Have I gone independent from God in some area of my life?
There is only one way to get rid of locusts and that is by getting back into a right relationship with God.
An open, honest, dependent and intimate relationship with Him. (See also Joel 2:12-13.)
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