God Restores The Years You Lost

There are years you would take back if you could. A course you dropped, a relationship that cost you three years, a stretch you spent numb and going nowhere. Some of it was your fault and some of it was never in your hands.

God says something about those years. Joel 2:25 and 26 say, "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. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame."

Read the first word again. I will. That is not advice and it is not a motivational line. It is God putting Himself on the hook for the time you think is gone.

Notice He never asks them to earn the years back. He is the one restoring, and He does it because of who He is, not because of how well they performed after the locusts left. When God looks at you He is not adding up the wasted time. He sees what He can still do with a life He already bought.

This shows up in ordinary ways. You go back and finish the certification at twenty nine. You make the call to the friend you ghosted two years ago. You start showing up for the job you thought you were too late for. You are not making up for lost time by grinding harder, because that was never the deal. Lean on the Holy Spirit and take the next step in front of you, and let God do the restoring He promised to do.

The locusts got some of your years. They did not get your future, and God already said what He is going to do about it.