When I visited Indiana I was amazed by how many crop fields there were. There were miles and miles of nothing but crop, farmhouses and tractors. I saw vegetables like corn and tomatoes it was pretty neat. Then I wondered about the work that goes behind in having to maintain those fields.
As a farmer they engage in raising organisms for food or raw materials. A farmer helps to promote or improve its growth of a (plant, crop, etc). They invest a lot of labor and attention to their crop so that it will flourish. But there are certain threats that the farmer has to be on the lookout for. One in particular insect that can pose a threat are locusts.
They enjoy damaging green plants and putting pressure on the crops and are very susceptible to green pastures. Locust are not dangerous or deadly insects but will damage most green plants. They pose a threat that’s more indirect and horrifying to farmers. They enjoy swarming around into their fields and literally eating away at the crop. That all the years of hard work and labor instantly gone and useless. Locust really enjoy the eating away at the crop and destroying them. Basically leaving a farmer to starve to death.
Locust fly away during the cutting and bailing process but are smart little insects. They are clever and lay their egg beds alongside tracks, fence lines, and even in uncropped areas. So they can continue to reproduce. See they are very sly insects and can make a farmer believe that there gone and boom there right in the area. The locusts are pretty smart and I never knew how powerful they can be. Imagine being a farmer and thinking everything looks great with the crops, but yet these little bugs are eating away at your livelihood.
So I began to ponder about the crops in my life and how I believed everything looked great! But on the inside I was being eaten away. I can relate in being that farmer that was caught off guard and not seeing what was happening to my crop. I recall going through a hard season in my life where everything was oozing out of my pores. I was so angry and bitter at the world and felt I was handed a bad card in life. My countenance was not approachable and I would spew poison with my words.
About 19 years ago I was at a place in my life where everything was being eaten by those locusts. It was very dark time and was also very overwhelming. The only thing I could recognize was the seething and feelings that I was slowly dying. My husband and I were on the brink of a divorce and I wanted out. It was a combination of both bringing in our own baggage into the relationship, plus adding a little extra of our own dysfunction. I remember wishing harm upon myself and little did I know those little insects were eating away at me.
My husband was an alcoholic and ran the streets. He was raised without a father and never had any role models in his life. I came from an upbringing of being so confined and naive to life. My parents were super strict and my step father was very abusive but yet very religious. Life was all about rules and not relationship. I left my home at the age of 17 and vowed that I would never go back. Shortly after is when I met my husband and became pregnant. I was clueless and broken and all I wanted was for someone to love and accept me.
One day my mother in law asked me to go to church and my heart cringed every time she would ask me. Last place I wanted to be was church and if I being completely honest I hated people from church. In my eyes they were all hypocrites. But out of obligation so she would stop asking me I said, “That I would go”. I remember walking into the church and my body language was saying, “Don’t even think about talking to me about God and that fluff. The only thing that came to my mind was, ‘Great now I can divorce my husband because people will see who he is and they will help me get a divorce.
Little did I know that moment was going to be the turning point for my life. I felt so broken inside but yet uncomfortable. You know when your mind is telling you to do something but your body does something else. Yes, that was me. I found myself walking to the front of where the Pastor was at and saying “Yes” to something that I couldn’t even explain. But that was when the turning point came and I felt the love of God. The Pastor began telling me, “It was going to be okay”. Then the he shared a passage from the Bible.
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten– the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you (Joel 2:25). I was saying “A locust what”! What is this crazy man talking about. See I had plenty of locusts in my life that were eating away at my crop. They even took shelter and laid eggs alongside me. I was completely clueless to what was going on inside, but I knew I was decaying away. I did not know what to do with what was happening in my life. So I had to identify the locusts and see where they were destroying my crop and remove any debris left that were left, including their eggs.
I’m forever thankful for me walking into that church because something was deposited in me. I know who God is and he has kept the promises of giving back to me what the locust had stolen. He has restored my marriage and family. He has birth inside me compassion and hope. He removed my heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh. I am able to speak and breathe hope into the lives of people. Knowing fully well that he will bring restoration to their crop.
So today I want you to reflect on the locusts that are possibly eating away at your crop.
Life Application
• Identify the locusts.
• Allow God to be the farmer of your life and removed those locusts.
• Stand on his word
I pray this ministered to your life. Help me spread the word to those that need an encouraging word.
Be Blessed,
Carrier’s of Hope
Breathing Hope One Life at A Time!
On my trip to Indiana I had the privilege of getting a free upgrade with my rental car. This was a great opportunity to get all the bells and whistle in a car. So they offered my husband and I top pf the line pearly white Nissan Maxima. As the words were getting ready to come out of my mouth, “We will take it”, my husband said, “What we need is a vehicle that has more space.” So the gentleman said, “Well we a have a mini van”. My thoughts, “A mini van, wow, what a Buzz killer!” So we got the mini van it wasn’t pearly but it did have a fancy navigational system, seat warmers, and the doors opened from both sides of the van.