Allow me to take you on a walk into the paths of the Old Testament. If you would like to read along with me, we will be reading today from Joel, chapter 2, verse 25. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm…
Joel 2:25 has been used spiritually encourage many Christians who have lost homes, families, marriages, health, and money. I would like to show you how we can use this verse to make you more confident in in what the word of God says about your relationship with Him. God said 3Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Before Joel 2:25 the Bible tells us how bad things got, before God promised to restore things. Lets read Joel chapter 1, verses 2-4 to find out what happened.
2Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? As you can see3Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. 4That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
I think verses two and three it sound a lot like Jesus’ command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. Everyone is told to HEAR! Old men and children are told to HEAR! Everyone is told to tell somebody else in verses two and three.
In verses three and four, what one worm does not eat, the other one does. This looks like the way sin destroys our lives and causes us to be lost. I think, spiritually speaking, verses two and three could be sin.
When we try to use Joel chapter 2:25 to promote the devilish “prosperity gospel”,we may not see money and other stuff come back to us. But we know that Jesus came to “seek and save that which was lost”. We also know that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” We can be sure that God will fix the sins in our life because the Blood of Jesus takes away the sin of the world. God will fix what sin has done to our relationship with Him if we call upon His Son Jesus Christ. This message is for the saved and unsaved. 1 John 1:9 says. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Praise God!
I would like to close today with Psalm 23 where I got my title to this teaching, He Restoreth My Soul! Pay close attention to verses three and six!
1(A Psalm of David.) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3HE RESTORETH MY SOUL: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
