“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the
cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent
among you” (Joel 2:25).He didn’t say he would restore “the things” that the locust, cankerworm, caterpillar and the palmerworm had eaten but the “Years” that they had eaten or wasted.

This is a promise that God will give us the “time” and “opportunity” that we wasted in our past.

How many years did you waste before you repented and surrendered all to Jesus?

How many years were eaten up by the cankerworm of sin and rebellion?

You know you are forgiven and your past is forgotten because it is under the
blood of Jesus, but wouldn’t you love to get back those years and live them for
the glory of the Lord?

“I could have been so much deeper in Christ! I could have brought such joy to
his heart! I could have saved myself and my family so much pain and suffering.
How blind I was: how enslaved by the devil! How close I came to losing my soul
and my sanity. I can never make up for all those wasted years.” How often have
you thought this?

“Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). In other words,
“Forget your past and press on in Jesus!”

Satan’s favorite form of harassment is bringing up your past by pulling old
skeletons out of the closet to scare you! He will try to persuade you that an
old addiction or lust is going to rise up in your heart and take you back to
the old life. Or you could succumb to pride, thinking you cannot fall—but
then you would be targeted by the enemy for certain!

You might feel the pangs of remorse as long as you live. And yes, the memories
will keep you humble. But in God’s eyes, your past is a dead issue. As far as
condemnation and guilt are concerned, God says, “Forget the past. Press on to
what I promised you!”

We see a picture of such restoration in the New Testament when Jesus healed a
man with a withered hand. “Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand.
And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other”
(Matthew 12:13). You see, when Jesus restores you, he also heals the wounds.

Take those old wounds—the worries and regrets about your wasted
years—and let God restore to you the very years that were taken away. Then
press on toward the prize of your high calling in him!