MONDAY, JUNE 3
Scripture: Joel 2:25

Joel 2:25 says, “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 Hebrew word for “swarming locusts” is ar-beh, for “crawling locusts” it is yeh-lek, and the Hebrew word for “consuming locusts” is khaw-seel and the Hebrew word for “chewing locusts” is gaw-zaum. The interesting thing about this verse is that God takes responsibility for all the preparational adversity that we face and promises to restore the years of preparation with years of fulfillment. Ar-beh are the swarming, flying locusts. As high as we can build a personal kingdom, God says He can eat it. The yeh-lek are the crawling locusts, who can only eat what is at ground level, so everything the flying locusts leave, the crawling locusts consume. The next level is chewing locusts, khaw-seel, which are the ravagers. They go all the way down to the bulb by way of the root. Finally we have the gaw-zaum, the devourer, that eats up even the vision. At this point all that is left is memory – so that even our hopes and aspirations are laid down and given up. God promises that for every year of heartache in preparation, He will give us a season of fulfillment. That is quite a promise. And I think we need to believe for it!