The Years The Locusts Have Eaten

I once heard the story of a man who had been visited over the years by a missionary from the London City Mission. Every time the missionary urged the man to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ the man refused to listen. The man reached the great age of 100 years and on that birthday he yielded his life to the Lord Jesus. He said, "Isn't it wonderful that here I am at 100 years and I have accepted Christ?" Yes it was wonderful, but think of all the years and opportunities he had wasted, living without the Lord Jesus, living only for himself.

That old man's story is not unique. Too often so many people hear the Gospel, are challenged by it, maybe become convicted of their sin and their need for salvation but let these opportunities pass them by and they remain unsaved. And so often when eventually they are converted they regret bitterly all the years when they resisted Christ - "years that the locusts have eaten". But God gives wonderful encouragement to someone like that. God says to them, as he did to Israel a long time ago, "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten" - those wasted years. God will give such a person work to do no matter how long they have rejected God's grace, even if they are 100 years old! While many people come to God while they are still young, yet some of the finest Christians I know were converted later in life and lived for Jesus in such a useful way, making up for the years they had lost.

Prayer

Dear Lord, help me not to waste time but to use my time for you. Amen.