Swarming Locusts

#160

Friend,

“So no one told you life was gonna be this way.
Your jobs a joke, your broke, your love life’s DOA.
It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear,
When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month,
Or even your year…

Some of you didn’t read that, you sang that. These opening lines to the iconic 90s TV Show Friends will forever be in my head.

One of the reasons that this song resonates is that it speaks the truth. We’ve all had times when it hasn’t been our day, our week, our month, or even our year. It just seems like nothing has been going right for as long as we can look back at how things have gone.

(That reminds me of another Friends quote when Rachel was talking about her life, and she said, “But today it’s like rock bottom, 50 feet of crap, and then there’s me.”)

I know you are in one of those seasons, and amid those seasons, you need at least two things.

1. People- Friends and Family. The chorus of that song by the Rembrants goes,

   “I'll be there for you (when the rain starts to pour)

   I'll be there for you (like I've been there before)

   I'll be there for you

   'Cause you're there for me too.

2. Hope- In the book of Joel, The Lord says,
   “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts…
   Then you will know that I am among my people Israel,
   that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.
   Never again will my people be disgraced.”

I love that line- “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts.” God is a God of redemption, renewal, and restoration. Swarming locusts will destroy, but God will rebuild.

You are not alone, and this is not the end of the story.

Love,

Aaron