2 and we'll talk about how to reclaim what's yours.
Reclaim what's yours.
Is the casino going to help you reclaim it?
No way.
But look at Joel chapter 2 verse 25, the Bible says in Joel 2 verse 25, "And I will restore
to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker worm and the caterpillar and the
palmer worm, my great army which I sent among you."
So these people's livelihood has been destroyed by these pests, whether it be locusts, canker
worms, caterpillars, palmers, these are eating up the crops, they're eating up their increase.
And he says that they were my great army which I sent among you.
So what he's saying there is that to punish the Israelites, he sent these pests to eat
up their crops, he damaged their goods in order to punish them because they turned away
from the Lord and worshiped other gods or whatever it was that they were doing.
So God sent his army of natural disasters to mess with them and they ended up losing
a lot of their profits.
But God says in verse 25, "I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten."
Now stop and think about this, sin has consequences in our lives and especially those that got
saved later in life or maybe you got right with God later in life, you might have done
some damage to your body, damage to your bank account, damage to relationships, you've just
done some damage to your life over the years and so think about it from that perspective,
these people had some damage that had happened because of their sin, their crops were damaged,
they don't have enough food, the worms ate their goods and so they've lost a lot of wealth.
Sort of like the guy who went to the casino and he lost all his money, mortgaged his house,
mortgages, vehicles, whatever, okay?
Maybe you've done irreparable damage to your body, relationships, you know, maybe you got
a criminal record, you know, just all the bad side effects of committing sin, because
whenever we sin, obviously, it causes bad things to happen.
And what God's saying here is, "I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten."
God is saying that He can actually restore some of those things that we've lost, some
of the time that we've lost, some of the money that we've lost, maybe a reputation that's
been lost.
He's saying, "I'll restore to you those things."
So let's just throw out some random numbers just to kind of help understand this verse.
Okay.
You know, let's say these people had been storing up goods.
Let's say they've been saving up like, you know, $10,000 every year or something.
They're kind of just stockpiling whatever.
And they saved up 10 grand the first year and 10 grand the next year and 10 grand.
You know, they've done this for like 10 years, they've got like $100,000 in savings, right?
Then God sends his judgment and they lose everything.
They lose it all, right?
God's saying, "Look, if you'll turn to me, I can restore that to you and I can actually
build you back up to where you were."
And obviously these people aren't dealing with a bank account, but you know, they have
their flocks and their herds and their crops.
So you know, let's say they'd built up their herd and they'd built up their stockpiles
of food and everything.
And let's say God sent a disease, he sent a pestilence, he sent these critters to eat
it up.
You know, God's saying, "Look, I can give it back to you."
Sort of like he did with Job, where Job lost everything and then God gave it back to him.
And at the end of the book of Job, he has more animals, more herds, more servants.
God's saying, so if you think about that slogan, reclaim what's yours.
You know, you've had something that sin has taken away from you in your life.
You know, and you say, "Man, I lost my 20s.
I just wasted my 20s.
I wasted my 30s, and what do I do now?"
But God's saying, "I can restore to you that."
Basically, what He can do is He can make your 40s be twice as effective, or your 50s or
your 60s.
You know, He can help you make up for lost time, make up for the things that you've lost.
But let's back up and see, because He's not just telling everybody in the world, "Hey,
I'm just going to restore everybody what the locust has eaten."
Let's back up and see what it takes to actually reclaim what's yours, because it's not a trip
to the casino.
How do we as Christians reclaim what's ours that we've lost through a life of sin, through
bad decisions, whatever, through the casino?
You know, you went to the casino, you threw a bunch of money away.
I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but how do you actually reclaim what's yours?
Look what the Bible says in verse 12, "Therefore also now saith the Lord, turn ye even to me
with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning."
That's what we need in this country right now.