Restore our day eaten by locust.

This powerful plea is drawn from the prophecy of Joel, a profound promise of God's restorative power for time that seems lost, wasted, or destroyed. It is a prayer for redemption, not just of things, but of time itself.

Here is a poem and a prayer based on that beautiful scripture.

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Restore the Years the Locusts Ate

The fields are bare, the harvest gone, The weary,wasted, barren dawn. The seasons turned,the time has passed, Beneath the locust swarm’s dark cast.

They came in swarms—the years of pain, The choices made for no true gain, The grief that stripped the branches clean, The sin that left a blighted scene. The opportunities now lost, The countless and uncounted cost.

“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”(Joel 2:25)

This is the promise I cling to, A word of hope,so sure and true. Not just a partial,weak repair, But a redemption,full and fair.

You are the God who buys back time, Who turns our water into wine. You take the ashes of our past, And build a future that will last.

Restore the years, O Lord, I pray, Bring life from death,and day from day. Take all that was consumed and spent, And pour out grace with heaven’s intent.

Let joy grow where there was but shame, Let praise arise from fearful frame. For all the fruit that seemed denied, Let Your abundance now provide.

“You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.”(Psalm 30:11)

I do not ask to change the past, For that die has been cast. But I ask for Your healing hand, To restore what was lost in the land Of my heart,my soul, my mind, The broken pieces left behind.

So let the new crop rise and bloom, Dispelling every shade of gloom. Let the threshing floors be full of grain, And the vats overflow with wine again.

Restore the years the locusts ate, And shut no more the future’s gate. For You are God,and in Your Son, The work of restoration’s done.

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A Prayer from This Promise:

"Heavenly Father,

I come before You with the empty fields of my life—the years that feel eaten away by locusts of my own poor choices, by circumstances beyond my control, by pain, by delay, by failure.

I stand on Your promise in Joel 2:25. You are the God who restores. I ask You now, in the mighty name of Jesus, to restore what has been lost. Redeem the time. Bring forth a harvest of joy where there has been mourning, of purpose where there has been waste, of abundance where there has been lack.

I cannot get those years back, but I believe You can fill my future with such purpose and grace that it will be as if You are giving them back to me. I receive Your promise of restoration. I trust in Your faithfulness.

Thank you for turning my ashes into beauty. I wait expectantly for the harvest You will bring.

In Jesus' name, Amen."