The “How” is Not Up to Me

As I have thought about Joel 2:25 (NIV), “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten,” I have wondered, how will you repay us, God? How will repayment ever justify what was done to our sons? What repayment could ever be enough for what our sons suffered and what they lost? How can God repay for lost years of childhood? How can God repay for daily headaches? How can God repay for all we have gone through? It was then that I heard the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit say to my spirit that it is not for me to know how God will repay but to believe that God will repay for the years the locusts have eaten.

Romans 4:20-24 (NIV) says, “Yet he did not waiver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, being fully persuaded that God has power to do what he had promised. This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’ The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

Put these Scriptures together, and you’ve got a promise and a promise about a promise. Our promise is: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” from Joel 2:25 (NIV). Our promise about our promise is from Romans 4:20-24 (NIV). We will not waiver through unbelief regarding this promise that God will repay for the years the locusts have eaten but to be fully persuaded that God has the power to do it. We believe in God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He has the power to do the impossible, to raise something that is dead and bring new life. That resurrection power is why we can believe and be fully persuaded that God is able to repay for the injustice. The “how” God will do it is not up to us, only to believe that He can and He will do it.