Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing.
Joel 2.14
Pests
Joel proposes this in the middle of a grim prophecy. Israel is about to be attacked from all sides. An army of locusts is heading her way to devour everything in its wake. They’ll obscure the sun, thrusting Israel into relentless night. There’ll be no stopping them. They’ll create such an uproar they’ll sound like chariots rumbling over the land. Their path will turn Israel’s green gardens into a desert.
Of course, Joel is speaking metaphorically. Yet we all suffer locusts—swarming pests, intent on ruining everything that sustains us. Alone or in small groups, they’re harmless. As their number grows, though, they’re a fearsome threat. They block all light of truth. They raise such a fury no voice of reason is heard above their racket. They destroy hope and confidence, unconcerned and unconscious about the impoverished conditions caused by their onslaught. If none of this resonates, watch cable news or listen to talk radio. It’s all locusts, all the time.
Locust Behavior
There are several aspects of locust behavior we should know. Overcrowding leads to proliferation. Constant bumping into one another excites them to reproduce rapidly. So the more there are, the more there will be—for a while, at least. Eventually, however, their numbers grow too large to feed and they have nowhere left to go. They begin dying off by the thousands. Then something truly fascinating happens. Their rotting carcasses make excellent fertilizer! The country they destroyed springs back, richer, greener, and more productive than before the swarm’s attack.
Short-Term, Long-Term
Joel’s prophecy turns on this phenomenon. God vows to drive the swarm “into a parched and barren land… its stench will go up; its smell will rise… I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten… You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.”
When we feel besieged, stripped of all dignity and hope, it’s vital to know by faith that God will leave behind a blessing. Our short-term inconvenience is meant for our long-term improvement. What’s been taken from us will be repaid many times over. Our lives will be more productive. Our faith will thrive. Our confidence will grow deeper roots. These and many other blessings are why fertilizer happens.
(This post was inspired by a sermon of Bishop Randy White, Church Without Walls, Tampa, Florida.)
Fertilizer waiting to happen...
(Tomorrow: When the Spirit Prays)
Postscript: Mompriest & Company
Feminist Theology in an Age of Fear and Hope is an enormously rich blog I came upon via Here I Am Lord. It’s a product of the Women’s Ministry at the National Episcopal Church Center in New York and welcomes everyone to its conversation with this:
Here is a place for people of faith to ponder the various ways we know God in the world, and, in one another.
Its host, Mompriest, and numerous other writers offer a feast of faith. Its thoughtfully prepared meditations span subjects important to all believers, male and female. Much as Straight-Friendly’s content attempts to stress universal principles underlying its GLBT perspective, Mompriest & Company use a feminist prism to break forth the Bible’s full spectrum of meaning. Every post brings fresh insights and reinforces timeless truth. The writers there have a special gift for challenging the mind and soothing the spirit at the same time. Anyone seeking deeper knowledge of his/her faith should make Feminist Theology a regular habit.
3 comments:
If none of this resonates, watch cable news or listen to talk radio. It’s all locusts, all the time.
Preach it brutha!
Fertilizer is delicious irony. As Tim would say, "a classic reversal!"
The only thing I disagree on is the "short-term, long-term" analysis. It's nice, Tim, and sometimes true, but it's also true that sometimes suffering is life long, terminal, chronic--sometimes so bad we don't see the blessing. Unless blessing is the reassurance that God loves you and you aren't suffering because God is punishing you. Or perhaps blessing is the faith that enables you to persevere through life despite terrible tragedy or suffering. Or blessing is the afterlife--the heaven where we are finally rewarded with life ever more abundantly. But I think these sorts of explanations of blessing would seem like slippery logic to someone suffering true tragedy.
Suffering is real. It is a fact of life. It isn't always followed by something good in this world. I think, pastorally, it's something we need to remember. If you try to use miracles or promises in a pastoral way, you may end up with someone shaking their fist at God.
Sorry--I mean here you are trying to be positive and uplifting and I come off as a total cynic. Of course there are silver linings. Of course rotten things make good fertilizer.
Of course, God promises us life ever more abundantly.
Missy, I thoroughly appreciate--and am grateful for--your raising some important boundaries/qualifications around my rather insensitive, sweeping generalization.
Ironically (or perhaps not), just this afternoon I spoke with an old, very dear friend who recently lost his mother, a great woman of faith, to colorectal cancer. In her final days, she fought valiantly to reconcile her love and faith in God with her excruciating pain and gnawing awareness that, this time, He wasn't coming to her rescue. My friend wept as he described his helplessness to understand or explain what was happening. It was nearly impossible for him or his mother to accept her deliverance would come in death, rather than healing--something he struggles with continuously. And I think worst of all, he and his mom both couldn't rationalize their anger at God after lives built on His mercy and providence.
The point I hoped to make and bungled is this: on occasion, we feel overwhelmed by people who unite against us. Their power and means will seem unstoppable and the damage they do irreparable. But we have to trust that their evil won't go unchecked indefinitely, that God will intervene on our behalf, and ultimately leave behind a blessing from which we'll profit.
That said, however, His plan for each of us isn't confined to this strategy. There are other times when our suffering comes with a different purpose, teaching us harder lessons, and leading to more permanent, life-altering conclusions. These situations most definitely don't fit the short-term/long-term scenario I describe. And when they do happen, they leave us with no alternative but to rely on God's wisdom, mercy, and grace because there's no other way to logically explain them. These are the toughest time sof all, demanding more faith than we may think we possess. Yet I'm convinced that once we do come through them, the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep our hearts and minds through Christ.
I guess the best way I can put it is, we need to see a plague of locusts for what it is yet also ask God's help in recognizing Him in more cataclysmic situations, particularly those that fall on us and don't lift over time.
Your clarification isn't the least bit cynical. It's essential, appropriate, and extremely useful to us all. I couldn't be more grateful for your honesty and care in pointing it out.
Big love,
Tim
"And when they do happen, they leave us with no alternative but to rely on God's wisdom, mercy, and grace because there's no other way to logically explain them. These are the toughest times of all, demanding more faith than we may think we possess. Yet I'm convinced that once we do come through them, the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep our hearts and minds through Christ."
Very nicely said. God is not so much in the evil or the tragedy, as He is present in the healing that comes afterward.
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