25 February
The Worms of Destruction
That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away.
Joel 1:4 and 7What we see in the book of Joel is a moral decay of our lives. Four pestilences, each one worse than the one before. Each one adding more destruction because Gods people turned away from the living God.
The palmerworm is the wingless, migratory locust — a crawling locust that slowly wriggles its way into your life. Because that's how it starts — Satan does not hit you smack bang with the big temptations but, like the serpent that he is, comes subtly to steal the Word from your life.
When the little sins have had their way in your life, then the locusts come. And they never travel alone. They travel in the thousands, maybe even millions, and devour anything in its path. They migrate — they enter, destroy, and leave so that the cankerworm can clean up.
Yes, the cankerworm comes in ... he's the licking locust. He takes his time to devour that which the locusts have rushed through and left behind. He licks up what he can; his objective is to make sure that he enjoys his meal, and then leaves.
And then the caterpillar comes in. Believe it or not, the caterpillar is the most dangerous. The caterpillar is the consuming locust. He is what you call the "Clean Up" team. They come in and devour what the others left. They leave nothing unturned. When the caterpillar gets to you, you are finished. When Satan is allowed enough play room in your life, you are stripped bare.
But "fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things." Have you been gnawed at recently? Be glad and rejoice. God can restore everything that they have stolen.