Faithful Redeemer (Joel 2:25)

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.
– Joel 2:25

What a promise from God and what imagery. “The years that the swarming locust has eaten”. All this time, it seems like it has disaster, suffering, and death written all over it. God says, “That’s not the end of the story I’m going to bring about restoration and redemption in a way that’s far beyond what you could imagine”.

Joel 2:25 shows that no loss is beyond God’s power to restore.

This is at the heart of the gospel that we believe. That darkness and suffering are not the end of the story for all who trust in Jesus. That death is not the end of the story for all who trust in Jesus. We worship and we have put our hope and our trust in the God who alone is able to restore and to redeem. To heal and to make whole that which is broken and lost and seems ruined.

And I just want to encourage you today, as you look at your past, to know that God is the Redeemer. He’s the One who redeems and restores years that this swarming locust may have eaten. And in your present, through any challenges you may be walking through right now. What hope you and I can have. That God is going to restore. And God is going to redeem hurt and pain and brokenness for all who trust in him. And for others who were walking alongside who were going through hard days.

I just think about one person I was talking with recently who’s been through hard years. And they just flat out said, “I love a good redemption story and I long for a good redemption story”. And the reality is, for all who trust in Jesus, all of our stories are a good redemption story. In the end will be a good restoration redemption story, not just good, glorious.

Joel 2:25 reminds us that God is always working for our renewal.

So we praise you, God, based on Joel 2:25 as theRestorer and the Redeemer. We praise you for how you did that for your people, as you promised in the book of Joel. How you did that for your people over and over and over again throughout the Old Testament, throughout the New Testament. Lord, we praise you, Jesus, as the Redeemer at the center of all Scripture, the One who alone can make us new. We praise you for that reality in our lives.

We praise you for 2 Corinthians 5, that we are new creations. All of us who are in Christ, the old has gone, the new has come, and that you are working redemption in us. Even your promise in Romans 8:28, that we pray according to all the time, that you’re working all things together for our good. We know our good is our conformity to your image, our redemption, our being remade, conformed to the image of Jesus.

So we say yes, oh God, show your redeeming power in our lives, and we pray over situations right now that seem dark, hard, and full of hurt. We pray that you would show your power as the Redeemer and the Restorer. God, we pray for that in lives. We pray for that in marriages. We pray for that in families. God, we pray for that in churches. We pray for that over our friends and family members who don’t know you. God, we pray for your redemption, for their restoration to you. God, help us to boldly share the gospel with people around us. That we might be a part of your redemption story in their lives.

Prayer for the Najdi Arab People

And God, we pray this for the nations. We know, Revelation 5, that you have died, Lord Jesus, to ransom, to redeem people from every nation, tribe, people, and language. We pray that over the Najdi Arabs of Saudi Arabia, of Jordan. For 15 million Saudi Najdi Arabs. Please oh God, save, redeem, restore them. Cause the gospel we pray to spread among them, bless all who are working for the spread of the gospel in Saudi Arabia, that your name might be exalted as Redeemer and Restorer, Lord Jesus, across Saudi Arabia. May it be so. We pray all this according to your Word in Joel 2:25. In Jesus’ name, in the name of our Redeemer. Amen.