Thursday, March 4, 2010

What the Locust Have Eaten

We aren't in February anymore. We are in March, you know, that month that comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb, or comes in like a lamb and leaves like a lion. But we aren't talking about lions today. We are talking about locust. And in Joel one we see that the locust have come in a ravonous swarm, leaving nothing in their path.


Joel 1:4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.


This verse jumped out at me once, when I stood in a desolate place in my life. I felt like the tree stump in my front yard, cut off and dead.


All these locust had come into my life in the form of rejections and other things and left me with nothing. Even as I prayed, I felt dead at His feet. As an exercise I named the locust that had come. Somethings that happened in my childhood I named the gnawing locust. The abandonment of my sister, I named the swarming locust. The recent deaths of my in-laws, especially my mother-in-law to whom I was very close, I named the creeping locust, etc.

I meditated on this verse for some time because of that desolate place. I couldn't shake for a while. Sometimes I reassigned the locust for whatever it was that made me feel desolate that day. But always it was the same. Many things had been stripped away from me. And there was nothing I could do but grieve over things old and new that worked together to destroy me.

And I needed to grieve over it rather than pretend it never happened.

3 comments:

JaneDoeThreads said...

I'm glad you posted this, been pondering it for days since--among other things. Have been staying off line, though posting a bit on QF blog, pray for me, I've been sort of standing boldly about who God really is, immediately the enemy comes in with the usual--and then with I get the 'is this getting a head of God here and in the flesh--guilt, fear,

it is serious to get a head of God, I know this [and I am in area right now working on some things] but at the same time I am sick of the false doctrines and the sugar coating tippie toe apologists for God, to not 'offend the hostile to Christ lot',. talking Around, rather than just saying,

This is WRONG, HERE IS IS IN THE WORD, GOD SAYS IT, STAND STRONG AND DECLARE IT, BE BOLD,

and the hostile voices are taking the monopoly, I mean Satan must be loving it. I'm just tired of it, I see more and more every single Day who God really is and it's So not like religion, it's All over HIS WORD,

why isn't there Any MEN standing BOLDLY IN THE GAP? I'm sure there is but you know what I mean...and women, well, Mara just pray for me, I need discernment, how to let the Holy Spirit talk through me with POWER, not 'human wisdom', and how to Deal with the feelings I get afterwards, when speaking Truth---see my replies on QF in regards to Child Abuse, and today's article--I hesitate whether or not to Say anything but if the Truth isn't put out there, the LIES gain--and then people Believe them, exactly what the enemy wants, and more will be destroyed because of...inside the church, and outside the church. Women and children--truth is LIGHT, you Can't hide it you know, I try Mara, but I see it in the Word and I can't HIDE it. What to do!

Love,

Jane

JaneDoeThreads said...

OK Mara, I got what God was/is telling me about the locusts-grasshoppers, your post on Joel was the Night after I watched a movie, on TCM, where a field of wheat was eaten by hoards of grasshoppers, I'd been thinking that for days, Then, there is a song, I kind of love, rastifari that is called The Swarm, [secular song, only one I like from the band] and I had been listening to that-kind of tying things together, in prayer you know,

so, like yea, these eating aways can be also eating away at our ability to bear fruit--like how disease, bugs, weeds, wrong conditions, effect plant life-vines, etc., Wheat.

LOL, so, ok yea I got it--what God is showing me, it's amazing how your post came up the Day after that movie, I've been pondering it for a long while, it ties into some other things, and yea, you are right, it IS a grieving process and the losses are very REAL, they are like holes. I asked God, how do you fill them up? Can you, can they truly be filled up? Mara, I don't know if they can, I do know He promises us that He restores our soul, preserves our soul [been reading on this today] but Question is,

what does that Really mean? Preserving our soul [Psalm 23] on the way out and way in, I don't think it means, what many claim it does--maybe we don't get through life without tears and gaps in our souls, maybe they are shredded to bits by the time we Do get up there, who knows???? But Question is Mara,

we don't KNOW the true Healthy state of the Soul before the Fall, if we think about it, maybe it has to die, a lot of it, to be reborn in that spiritual body, because of the poison of that tree, maybe? I don't know, Renew the mind Paul says, I don't know Mara but I think it's worth looking into/praying about/seeking. Mara I found something really interesting about Venus, you know about the abuse in my childhood, Venus, and her control/jealousy of Psyche, you know, Psyche, Psychology, oh yea,

it's like, hmmmmm, what is meant for evil though God turns it in for our good to those who Love Him...a lot to ponder on. Just know, been thinking about you, know it's not easy--

Love,

Jane

Mara Reid said...

Yes, Jane.
You know where I'm going.
But I'm going there slowly.
He's able to restore our souls.
He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think.

But it's no pixie fairydust walk in the park. He's in it for the long haul. However long it takes.
He's patient waiting for us, going at our pace, waiting for our trust in Him to grow and be established.

Found a couple scriptures in Jeremiah and thought about how (some) men have used the Bible to lie to and to control women.

Jeremiah 8:8 How can you say, "We are wise, And the Law of the LORD is with us?" but behold the lying pen of the scribe has made it into a lie.
vs 11 And they heal the brokeness of the daughter of My people superficially,saying, "Peace, peace," But there is no peace.

God's healing is real. The church's 'healing' isn't always real. It's up to us to find the real. God promises it and holds it out to us waiting until we are ready to receive, usually in degrees.