What do you get when you play a country song backwards?

You get your wife back.  You get your house back.  You get your truck back.  You get your dog back.

Yeah, I know… it's a tired, old joke.  But I couldn't help thinking of it when I read Joel 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."

The key verse of hope in the book of Joel.  Repentance would bring restoration.

I've been digging into that word "restore."  It shows up over 100 times in the Old Testament, almost always in the context of "paying back for a wrong done."  The actual Hebrew word is shalam, and yes, it is very much like a more familiar word, shalom.  It carries the idea of making peace.  So the big picture is that when a wrong is done, restitution is made so that peace can be restored.

The intriguing thing about Joel's use of this word is that God would be the one to restore what was lost due to Israel's sin.  Can you say, "foreshadowing"?

Romans 4:25-5:1 says, "He (Jesus) was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

God is still in the business of making right that which He did not make wrong.  Years wasted in sin, unbelief, rebellion, "back-sliding"… He can restore them.  But the requirement, as it was for Israel, is repentance.

I have a good friend who claims Joel 2:25 as a sort of life verse.  As long as I've known him, he's been walking the path of restoration.  It's a tough journey, but he's an inspiration to me.  I have an uncle with a similar story.  I have wasted years of my own.  How about you?

"Even now, declares the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.  Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.  Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing."  (Joel 2:12-14)

Thanks for stopping by!

Lee


P.S.  Yes, I realize it's March 1st and I should be on to Amos.  But February – even with leap day thrown in there – just got away from me, and I wanted to make sure I wrote about this verse!