Making Up For Lost Time
by Joe Stowell

Read: Joel 2:21-27

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. —Joel 2:25

None of us can say that we have no regrets. Often we are led down paths of bad choices—some paths longer than others—which can have a lingering effect on the mind, body, and soul.

A friend of mine spent a number of years living a life of alcohol and drug abuse. But God did an amazing work in his life, and he recently celebrated 25 years of being free from substance abuse. He now runs a successful business, has a devoted wife, and his children love Jesus. He has a passion to reach out to others who are in the ditch of life, and he serves as a wise and loving mentor in the rescue operations of their lives.

God never gives up on us! Even if we’ve made poor choices in the past that have left us with regret, we can choose how we will live now. We can choose to continue destructive living, simply wallow in regret, or we can run to Christ believing that He has ways to “restore . . . the years that the swarming locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25). When we repentantly seek His healing and freeing power, He is merciful.

While some consequences from the past may remain, we can be confident that God has a good and glorious future for those who trust in Him!

Lord, it is with humble and grateful hearts that we

come to You and lay all that we have been in the past

at Your feet. Take us as we are and make something

beautiful out of our lives that brings glory to You!

God never gives up on making something beautiful out of our lives.

our daily bread

carried

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Deuteronomy 1:19-31

The Lord your God has carried you just as a parent carries a child (Deuteronomy 1:31 CEB).

When my boys were smaller and it was time for bed, they would often ask if they could “be a sack of potatoes.” I would pick them up by their legs, sling them over my shoulder and climb the stairs to their room. I’d fling them into their bed the way a farmer tosses a 50-pound bag of spuds onto the back of a truck. They loved it.

My boys are larger now, and this ritual has passed. I’m still their father, however, and I’ll continue to carry them in other ways—over trials and rough spots, through joys and pains.

As Moses prepared Israel for the last leg of their wilderness wanderings, he narrated a review of the paths Israel had traveled—the many twists and turns that had led them to this moment. Moses reminded them of God’s thundering voice at Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 1:6-8) and the growth of their burgeoning nation (Deuteronomy 1:9-18). Moses recounted how they sent scouts to spy out the land God had promised and how the people balked at obeying His instructions to move into their new territory (Deuteronomy 1:26-33).

Yet Israel was once again at a crossroads. They would have to choose whether or not they would obey God’s instructions. It was a frightening thing to confront their powerful enemies and step into the homeland God had prepared for them. Obeying God is almost always a frightening thing. God promised to be with them, however. “The Lord your God is going ahead of you,” Moses reminded them. “He will fight for you, just as you saw Him do in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 1:30).

Like a good father, God would carry them “as a parent carries a child” (Deuteronomy 1:31 CEB). No matter what would come, they would be in the safest place possible: carried in the arms of God.

our daily journey