God deals with impossibilities. It is never too late for Him to do so, as long as that which is impossible is brought to Him in complete faith by the person whose life and circumstances would be impacted if God is to be glorified.

If we have experienced rebellion, unbelief, sin, and ruin in our life, it is never too late for God to deal triumphantly with these tragic things, if they are brought to Him in complete surrender and trust.

It has often been said, and truthfully so, that Christianity is the only religion that can deal with a person’s past.

God “will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:25), and He is trustworthy to do it unreservedly.

He does so not because of what we are but because of who He is.

God forgives and heals and restores, for He is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). May we praise Him and trust Him.

Nothing is too hard for Jesus. No man can work like Him.

We have a God who delights in impossibilities and who asks, “Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).

How many years we are not told; only this: “I will restore the years.”

Human lives are often laid bare—barren patches produced by our own failures; a wilderness stretching across our life. But what comfort in these words: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.”

Have you been brooding over some sorrow? Has it darkened your life as a swarm of locusts might darken the sun at midday? And have you cried out in your anguish, “The sun will never shine again”? But read the word He has promised: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.”

Turn to Him, dear reader—turn to the One whom you may have been inclined to forget when you lived in the larger house. He is waiting; and if He does not see fit to give you back the earthly possession once so highly prized by you, remember this: in a higher and better way He will restore those years.

The years that the locust hath eaten sometimes take another form: years spent away from God in pursuit of worldly pleasure and self-gratification! How many have tried this! No wonder the fields are bare! Can God restore these years? Did He not restore the years for Naomi? God can!

The blue water lily abounds in several of the canals in Alexandria, Egypt, which at certain seasons become dry; and the beds of these canals, which quickly become burnt as hard as bricks by the action of the sun, are then used as carriage roads. When, however, the water is admitted again, the lily resumes its growth with redoubled vigor and splendor.

How many years we are not told; only this: “I will restore the years.”

Human lives are often laid bare—barren patches produced by our own failures; a wilderness stretching across our life. But what comfort in these words: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.”

Have you been brooding over some sorrow? Has it darkened your life as a swarm of locusts might darken the sun at midday? And have you cried out in your anguish, “The sun will never shine again”? But read the word He has promised: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.”

Turn to Him, dear reader—turn to the One whom you may have been inclined to forget when you lived in the larger house. He is waiting; and if He does not see fit to give you back the earthly possession once so highly prized by you, remember this: in a higher and better way He will restore those years.

The years that the locust hath eaten sometimes take another form: years spent away from God in pursuit of worldly pleasure and self-gratification! How many have tried this! No wonder the fields are bare! Can God restore these years? Did He not restore the years for Naomi? God can!

The blue water lily abounds in several of the canals in Alexandria, Egypt, which at certain seasons become dry; and the beds of these canals, which quickly become burnt as hard as bricks by the action of the sun, are then used as carriage roads. When, however, the water is admitted again, the lily resumes its growth with redoubled vigor and splendor.

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.