“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).
TEXT — Joel 2:21-27
Message
One evening, a young man who had not been to the seaside before stood on the shores of the Atlantic in a city in West Africa. He was speechless while he watched the waves roll in and recede as they came close to his feet. Intrigued, he asked his guide: “What is decreasing the speed of the billows each time they reach us? Is there an engine beneath the water causing the movement of the waves?” The young inquirer, looking far beyond the sandy ground and over into the distant horizon, appeared to be more puzzled with the answer he got: “It is a Great God at work.”
Upon Israel’s repentance, prayers, and supplications, Prophet Joel assured her of divine intervention. The prophet gave a message of hope and reversal of the calamities that befell her. The purpose of divine chastisement would be accomplished. Contingent upon their humble continuous obedience to Him, the Lord will give them a bumper harvest and great farm produce, and they will have restoration of all that the enemies have stolen from them. A new dawn of peace and prosperity was ushered in.
Naturally and scripturally, it has been established that sin and disobedience rob people the much-needed peace and rest. Fear results in timidity and lack of confidence. With the promised restoration and recovery, fear, anxiety, bondage, and affliction will go as pronounced: “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.”
Regardless of our past mistakes and errors, we can have a fresh start. Once we meet the condition, God will not withhold any good thing from us. His resources are inexhaustible. He is able and willing to supply all needs according to his riches in glory. For forty years, He fed a whole nation with manna from heaven. He kept them healthy, and their enemies could not overrun them. If we can trust him, we shall equally enjoy His goodness in the land of the living.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
Leave a Reply