“Here I am 80 years old with nothing to show for it. I have wasted my life.” This could have been the thoughts of Moses on his eightieth birthday. He lived the first forty years in luxury, received the best education possible, and could have had anything he desired. Since his birth, the Lord had a purpose for Moses’ life, but he got ahead of God’s time by killing an Egyptian soldier. Fear of arrest forced him to flee to the wilderness and become a sheepherder. God used this time to humble Moses. After forty years, he had no desires, no ambition, or confidence for doing anything else. Now was God’s time and at the burning bush the Lord charged the reluctant Moses who did more in his last forty years than he did in the first eighty.
The Bible character I would put in the top-ten list of wasted lives is Samson. He was a young man loved by his parents, blessed by the Lord, set aside as a Nazirite to begin saving Israel from the power of the Philistines (Jud 13:5), and noted for his super-human strength. However, he wasted his entire life because of uncontrolled sexual lust. Despite his failings, God still used Him as a Judge for Israel against the Philistine. In his death, God gave him victory over his wasted years. Philistines had seized him, gouged out his eyes, and forced him to grind grain. Thousands had gathered at the temple of Dagon to sacrifice and Samson was bought from prison so he might amuse them. Placed between two pillars Samson prayed, O God, please strengthen me just once more. Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived (Jud 16:28, 30 NIV).
People, including some Christians, all over the world can identify with the first eighty years of Moses life—“I have wasted my life.” All of us have squandered portions of our lives through missed opportunities, failure to use our talents and spiritual gifts as God intended, impulsiveness decisions, etc. Yet, the accounts of Moses and Samson point out that it is never too late for the Lord to restore you from all your waste. The Holy Spirit gave us an encouraging promise concerning restoration in the Book of Joel. Because of Judah’s disobedience to God’s covenant with the nation, swarms of locust devastated the land. Gnawing away all the crops, they left both people and animals hungry. The locust turned the normally verdant and fruitful Judah into a desert wasteland (Joel 2:3). God’s covenant warned Israel of devastation for continued disobedience, but also, He promised blessings if they repented. After the nation turned back to the Lord with all their hearts with fasting, weeping and mourning (v12), Joel records the promise God gave them. So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust . . . (Joel 2:25 NKJV).
Obviously, God doesn’t restore time; the years pass by and we can never get them back. The Lord was going to restore Judah’s wasted years with years of blessings. He declares, the threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil . . . You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied (v24, 26). Scholars disagree about why Joel listed four names for the locust, swarming, crawling, consuming, and chewing. Regardless, the application for us is that locust or difficult circumstances can come from various sources. ‘Locust’ can invade our life as with Judah because of continued sin, but also for other reasons. Difficult times may result merely from living in an evil world. I watch with sadness when the news shows Christians forced to flee their homes and country because of wicked people. North Korea has become a major focus of my prayers knowing the government is torturing believers by inhumane methods, forcing them into hard labor, and now selling them as slaves for labor in Russia. They had not committed sin that brought about this unimaginable swarm of locust. Instead, evil barbaric leaders have created the locust that has ravaged their lives. The locust can be my fault from not only sin, but also stupid mistakes, fear, wrong choice of friends, from desire for worldly possessions, or anything not a part of God’s will.
Maybe you think you have wasted your life or floundered in recent times. You can’t go back, undo, and redo any part of the past. It is history. Your past may be fruitless, filled with pain, full of disappointment, failure of your marriage, bankruptcy of your business, addictions—you fill in the blank describing your past years. However, you can repent and commit the remainder of your life to Him and His purpose and He will restore what you have wasted. “Oh! I’m too old,” think about Moses. “Oh! It is too late,” think about Samson. No excuse, no failure, no sin, or no swarm of locust is too big that God can’t overcome and restore wasted years.
Sustaining Word for the Week: God is waiting to restore your wasted years. Commit your life totally to Him.