[Road To Renewal] RestoreSample

  

Destruction

The book of Joel opens by talking about destruction. He describes fires and droughts, natural disasters, food shortages, animals suffering, and death sweeping across the country. There is a lot of confusion and immorality going on. Joel describes a plague of locusts that came to the land. Locusts are like grasshoppers, but they can be gregarious, which means that they can form swarms and become a mighty force on the earth, destroying and devouring miles of land. Whatever is fruitful can be devoured. 

Joel describes a time this loss cripples the nation. What was happening in the natural world—locusts eating everything that looked to be fruitful—was a reflection of the spiritual world. This is often the case. In the spiritual realm, the people’s dreams, their destiny, and their future were being squandered—not by insects, but by the demonic hordes of the day that were feeding on their sin and their disobedience, stealing away their future and their hope.

However, God showed the people there was a way out of all that destruction and hopelessness. All they had to do was turn back to Him: give their hearts to the Lord, repent, and return to Him. We live in a time where the locusts of darkness have devoured what was supposed to be fruitful, glorious, and wonderful in many lives. Many of our futures, purposes, and destinies have been eaten up. It is time we blow the trumpet, wake up, and get involved in seeking God! God promised that when we seek Him properly, in humility, He will heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). He is the God of restoration and can make everything new again by His presence.

We should be living in the greatest days of renewal and revival in the history of mankind. Yet many times, these are days of loss and destruction. Loss of innocence, loss of joy, loss of fruitfulness, loss of financial blessing, loss of authority, identity, security, loss of peace and hope, and ultimately the loss of our destiny. Destruction seems to find us everywhere we go. There is a promise given to us, that when we restore God to his proper place, He will restore his blessings in our lives. 

If we look at the ministry of Jesus, we can even call Him “King Restoration.” He found people who had lost things and He gave those back to them. People who had lost their sight were able to see. People who had lost the capacity of mobility, Jesus raised them up and healed them and made them well again. People who had lost their integrity, their way, and their relationship capacity, Jesus restored them. God, our Lord, our Savior, is in the process, in the business of restoration. There is no destruction He cannot restore!