Skip to main content

Locusts


Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
                “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.  Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. (Joel 2:23-27)

          Yesterday, I promised to write about the locusts after I did some research, but I’m disappointed. I was hoping for some explanation of the four-fold mention, but the locust doesn’t follow the pattern of the cicadas. There are no 13- or 17-year patterns. I don’t find four specific breeds of locust that might join in a swarm. There are four major stages of development: egg, nymph, fledgling, and adult, but that could be applied to any living thing. 
          Switching focus, I considered what the number four tends to represent. To the four winds, and “north, south, east, and west” tends to mean everywhere. Four seems to refer to a sense of completeness or totality. So four swarms of locusts would produce complete destruction. God repaying someone for the years the four kinds of locusts ate would result in complete restoration. 
          My prayer focus for yesterday was centers of communication. Putting aside the previous day’s applicable, “we are all centers of communication,” I focused on the more typical centers: the media (journalists, entertainers, celebrities and sports heroes, marketers), the idea communicators (schools & libraries), politicians and police officers, and possibly a few others that have slipped my mind. As I prayed for these groups, I also thought about what it is their “locusts” have devoured. 
          The first thing that came to mind is that their locusts have devoured truth. Even if a communication person wants to tell the truth, if it doesn’t fit what the boss says, or with what will gain the company more money or power, it’s not going to get told.
          In a similar way, the locusts the communication centers face also devour righteousness, decency, hope, honor, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, justice, mercy, and personal integrity. These are the things that should be feeding the souls of our centers of communication. It may be the same list will apply to all the other centers I’ll pray for during the week, but these are the things we need to pray that God will repay our centers of communication with … and for.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more