He's a Restorer!

Intro:

Looking at different season in our lives and different phases of our existence. We all go through many different things. The older we get the more mother nature catches up with us. Gravity begins to pull on things and cause a shift in our form and fashion. The light of our eyes grow dimmer sometimes like an old light bulb that went from bright white to yellow. The use of our limbs don’t have the same gusto and thrust they once had. We can’t eat as much because our metabolism has slown to a creep. You used to be able to consume all you wanted and woke up with a flat stomach now if you smell food you gained 5 pounds. I don’t hear anyone in this place. You used to stay up all night and get up early and rise like a roaring lion. Now if you miss your afternoon nap you find yourself in a bad mood. When you wake up you have to do like an old 60’s Buick and pump the accelerator a few times and then hit the ignition. Truth be told we can speed up this process by our own doing. If we don’t get proper rest our bodies continue to break down and our minds are less productive. If we don’t eat right the gravitational pull will be stronger, because there’s this thing called weight that will contribute to the pull and shift in our bodies and our shape. If we consume too much alcohol and consume drugs we find ourselves looking older than our age and missing out on the blessings that God has for us. Even though we may be guilty or not guilty of things aforementioned God is always ready to restore us. You can get your health back, you can get a pair or glasses, you can start eating right, you can exercise and speed up your metabolism, but one thing I want to say is restoration is not always free. Sometimes restoration will cost you, but it’s worth every penny.

Text Work:

When we look at the text today it’s hard not to shout. When we hear the words restore it brings about a joy that only people who have lost something can understand. Before we shout let us examine the text. Israel had fallen into a place of apostacy and transgressed against the law of God. They began following after other gods and treated visitors as criminals and lesser than human beings. Church we always have to be mindful that everything we have God gave it to us or allowed us to have it , and if God so chooses we can at any moment loose everything we have. I don’t know about you, but I am going to be like that songwriter that said build your hope on things eternal hold to God’s unchanging hand! Stuff will change, money will change, houses will crumble, the flowers will fade, our youth will fade, but His Word will never go away! Israel Israel chose what was popular and or popping by becoming syncretist with other religions and other cultures. They were trying to gain favor amongst men instead of clinging on to the favor of God. This led Joel to say in 1:4 “What the chewing [a]locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten”. God says I am about to send something that will consume everything on every level. Many scholars argue that this description of locust represent two things. One the natural cycle of locusts itself and the spiritual punishment of Israel being held captive by outside occupiers. Stay with me church.

Breakdown of Locust:

The Palmer worm in the King James version or the chewing locust would get all of the fruit. The fruit represents the harvest and this harvest represents blessings. So the first thing that God allowed was the armies of the north would devour and burn down the fruit to show that God has taken away his blessings. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be in a place nor situation in which God’s blessings are cut off.

The locust or swarming locust would swarm and eat vegetation of all sorts, but they would mainly do desolate damage to the trees. Some scientist says that they would eat the bark of the trees leaving them bare and so desolate that they could not produce fruit and die which then would remove shade or covering. God then allows the enemy to remove your covering. What would normally protect you is what we have pride in and when that is taken away you are left exposed.

The Cankerworm or the the crawling worm would continue to destroy the vegetation by eating the young and vibrant leaves on every tree. This would take out anything that was budding or growing. Anything that was young and new God allowed the enemy to hit that too.

What the previous three missed the caterpillar or the swarming locust would bat cleanup on everything else. Anything green including the grass and vegetation. This would hit the economy, because this was how the livestock survived. Without livestock the people lost their economic impact. God allowed the enemy to hit them in their pockets.

Close:

After all of this destruction. After all this desolation. After all of this calamity. God is still in control. Many times church when we hit hard times we forget that God is in control. I am so glad as I go to my seat that God is in control. Our sins, our transgressions, our failures, our frailties, our misinformation, our mishaps, and our pride would have us to die, but God! I didn’t hear anyone! When I exegeted the text church I learned something within the context of the text. I have two shouts don’t miss your shout church. The first thing is that if you notice in Joel 1:4 God has the desolation in a particular order. The Palmer worm, locusts, Cankerworm or crawling worm, and the caterpillar or consuming locust. When we get to Joel 2:25 I want you to pay attention to something God restored in reverse order what he did in Joel 1:4 Which means God is about to turn it around! Yes even the things that you brought on yourself even the things you allowed that God told you not to allow even the things that you failed in God is still going to turn it around, because if you look at Joel 2:12 the Bible says they repented! When we repent and turn our hearts, minds, and spirits back to God he will turn that thing around!

I have one more shout and then I am going to my seat. notice in the text that God says he would restore. this lets me know that it wasn’t mine in the first place. Job said it like this the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, because it all belongs to God anyway. I am closing church. When I examine the word Restore in Hebrew it is the word Shalem which is a legal word for repayment or restitution. Which means that God is working on your case. I don’t hear anybody. What messed me up church was when I looked into this word a little deeper it also has interest attached to it and some scholars says it means you will get double for what you have lost. God does not only restore but God will give you double for your trouble. So thank you for all the Hell I went through thank you for my haters thank you for my doubters thank you for all who made fun of me, because I am about to get double for my troubles. Although I even brought some of this on myself, because I turned to God it will work in my favor. All things work together for the good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose! Look at your neighbor and says God is about to restore everything that you lost!