“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten”   (Joel 2:25).

Here is a promise with power. It can hold you steady in the storm and give you hope for the future. When Satan reminds you of the loss you suffered because of your folly, let this remind you of what God can do by way of giving you a prosperous future. Failure doesn’t have to be final! Charles Spurgeon wrote:

Yes, those wasted years over which we sigh shall be restored to us. God can give us such plentiful grace that we shall crowd into the remainder of our days as much of service as will be some recompense for those years of unregeneracy over which we mourn in humble penitence. The locusts of backsliding, worldliness, lukewarmness, are now viewed by us as a terrible plague. Oh, that they had never come near us! The LORD in mercy has now taken them away, and we are full of zeal to serve Him. Blessed be His name, we can raise such harvests of spiritual graces as shall make our former barrenness to disappear. Through rich grace we can turn to account our bitter experience and use it to warn others. We can become the more rooted in humility, childlike dependence, and penitent spirituality by reason of our former shortcomings. If we are the more watchful, zealous, and tender, we shall gain by our lamentable losses. The wasted years, by a miracle of love, can be restored. Does it seem too great a boon? Let us believe for it and live for it, and we may yet realize it, even as Peter became all the more useful a man after his presumption was cured by his discovered weakness. LORD, aid us by Thy grace.(Faith’s Checkbook)

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.—Ecc. 1:2
As believers it is wonderful to be reminded of the blessed estate that awaits us as joint-heirs with Christ. As pilgrims and strangers in the world we find nothing here that satisfies the deepest longing of our soul, but plenty to trouble us. It is then of great benefit to be reminded that this world is not our home—and, therefore, sheer folly to invest our lives in things of no eternal value.

More than 300 years ago, Thomas Sherman reminded us that we have a choice. He said:

I am frail—and the world is fleeting; but
my soul is immortal—and God is eternal.

If I choose earthly pleasures—I shall reap nothing but vanity and dissatisfaction.

If I aim at mammon, the god of this world—then shall I resemble the rich fool, who, for earthly gain, sacrificed his immortal soul; and, in consequence, went to eternal perdition!

But if I choose God for my portion, then mercy and goodness shall follow me while I live—and glory and eternal pleasure shall crown me when I die!

I will therefore now forsake that which I shall soon lose,
so that I may embrace that which I shall always enjoy!

—-in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.–Psalm 16:11

“He went up into a mountain apart” (Matt. 14:23).

We often talk about “being like Jesus”, but we seldom think about what all is involved in that. We especially fail to consider our need for solitude. Yet that is the example we see here. I suspect we would be more holy if we did not get in such a hurry. Here’s some good advice from an unknown writer that will help us be more like our Master:

One of the blessings of the old-time Sabbath was its calm, its restfulness, its holy peace. There is a strange strength conceived in solitude. Crows go in flocks and wolves in packs, but the lion and the eagle are solitaires.

Strength is not in bluster and noise. Strength is in quietness. The lake must be calm if the heavens are to be reflected on its surface. Our Lord loved the people, but how often we read of His going away from them for a brief season. He tried every little while to withdraw from the crowd. He was always stealing away at evening to the hills. Most of His ministry was carried on in the towns and cities by the seashore, but He loved the hills the best, and oftentimes when night fell He would plunge into their peaceful depths.

The one thing needed above all others today is that we shall go apart with our Lord, and sit at His feet in the sacred  privacy of His blessed presence. Oh, for the lost art of meditation! Oh, for the culture of the secret place! Oh, for the tonic of waiting upon God!

The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord– Isaiah 29:19

This explains why so many have so little joy—meekness is missing! Surely you see that as a problem. And seeing that it is of such great importance, we better make certain that we understand the nature of and the need for meekness. The daily devotional,”A Good Thing” gives us this good explanation:

“Meekness is not a momentary decision, but a way of life. Someone has described biblical meekness as “putting the bit in your own mouth and handing the reigns over to God.” It is an humble attention, and receptivity, to the will of God.

The meek are often mistaken in our day as being weak. But meekness is actually great strength, under control — God’s control. Great faith, great commitment, and great determination are required on a daily basis to live a meek life before God. When He requires sacrifice, meekness trusts completely and gives willingly. When He demands obedience, meekness constrains selfish desires, crucifies personal ambition, and performs joyfully the good will of God.

It is for this reason that the joy of the meek is continually increasing. Their pleasure is not found in personal circumstances; their happiness is not derived from fleeting popularity; their fulfillment does not come from public success.

The meek find their joy in the Lord. Therefore, the more they have of Him, the more they experience of Him, the more they know of Him, the more their joy is increased. And the more their joy is increased, the more they desire to plant their joy in the Lord and not in this world.

What about you? Have you found the dependable and lasting and ever-increasing joy that comes from a life of complete submission to our good and wise and glorious God?”

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waitheth for him.–Isaiah 64:4

We tend to worry too much about the end of our life on earth. We are prone to forget that, for the Christian, the best is yet to come! Actually the end is just the beginning. Greg Laurie gives us this reminder:

Heaven is the opportunity to develop and fulfill dreams bigger than anything on this earth. If we did not accomplish something on earth, it still can be accomplished later.

This is important to realize, because there are those who have very difficult lives. There are those whose lives were cut short. I can’t think of anything more sad than when a child dies or when a young man or woman leaves us in what we perceive to be before their time.

But God promises to compensate. God promises to make it up to them. Death for the Christian is not the end of life, but it is the continuation of it in another place.

We will be better off eternally because we suffered temporarily. I think of the here and now, but God thinks of the by-and-by. I think of the temporal, but God thinks of the eternal. I think about what makes me happy, but God thinks about what will make me holy. He looks at the big picture.

So in this plan and purpose of God’s, there may be things I have gone through that make no sense to me now. But when I get to heaven, I will realize that I was a better person for them. I will see that I was made more into the image of Jesus Christ as a result of them. I will discover that new ministry opportunities opened up that I would not have had otherwise because of these things.

There will be something about them that causes me to look back and say, “Now I understand why God allowed that to happen to me.” So it all will be sorted out. And I think this argument for the greater good may be the strongest biblical case for why God allows suffering.