Well, they have struck! The army worms are here and it feels like a biblical plague! Thankful for friends who stepped in while we were out of the country to start spraying and hold off the nasty little critters! Surveying the pastures this past weekend, showed that more spraying was needed. The ground was literally crawling!
Army worms are a moth larvae and one female can lay up to 1000 eggs. These worms can eat and destroy a football field size area in 2-3 days! All of the hard work put into fields, to grow nutritional grass for the cows and hay for the future, can be gone so quickly. Noticing a unusual flock of cow birds in a field is a tell-tale sign.
Husband asked me to ride with him to check pastures this weekend and to be honest, I didn’t want to. I had a few things I wanted to do, and I didn’t want to go ride in the muggy heat on my Saturday morning. But I did. I was shocked! I was so saddened to see completely bare patches of ground where worms had eaten the grass to the dirt in just a few days. It was disturbing to see all of the hard work of planting grass, stripped of its leaves and just stalks standing.
I had not brought my phone with me and so I quickly got husband’s to take a few pictures. We had only been gone a few days, but after we got home, those days had been full and busy and husband had to leave for 2 more days. We weren’t thinking and focused on the grass. We were busy doing life.
Joel 2 came immediately to mind as we looked for the worms in the fields. “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” This chapter of Joel is full of prophecy of the end times and destruction. But is also full of promise. Not only does God promise protection and blessing, He promises RESTORATION!
Just what He promised, is what we are seeing in our fields. Just as quickly as the plague came, the tractor came and sprayed. The “cavalry” swooped in and saved the day and now the pastures are recovering. The grass is growing, (too fast, since it has rained every day since I don’t know how long!) Just like that tractor drove in to our rescue, The Lord promises to do the same. The grass is being restored.
But we have to do our part. With the army worms, someone had to take notice of the unusual amount of birds in the pastures. Someone had to follow through on that and look for the worms and then they had to buy the pesticide, mix it and spray it. And it doesn’t stop there, because we have to constantly be on the watch after that for the laid eggs to hatch.
Our lives are no different. We have to do our part. We have to take notice that the enemy is running rampant in our homes and in our families. We have to see that the evil one has slipped in, almost so sneakily that he is overlooked. If we aren’t sober and vigilant, he will make his way in and just about “wipe out the pasture” if we aren’t careful.
Listen, Satan wants to keep you busy, distracted. Boy, don’t we know how busy life can be. We were busy, doing good works, and the army worms snuck in while we weren’t looking. Satan is no different that those worms. He will sneak in while you are distracted and then the damage is done. If we aren’t careful, minutes and days turn into years the destruction is so much worse.
BUT, we have a promise! “If we turn to God, with our whole hearts, maybe even tears and with fasting and praying (Joel 2:12-13)” “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.(Joel2:25)”, He has promised to RESTORE the years that the worms have eaten. Weeping may endure for a night, but JOY comes in the morning!
If you find yourself or your loved one living in those years, there is hope. Turn and set your heart on HIM and He will restore. If you aren’t in those years of eaten down pastures, be cautious and keep your eyes open! Sometimes we get comfortable and forget our enemy is lurking in the shadows!
So Lord today we pray that you will help us to be mindful. Help us to be sober and watching and not so distracted that we are easy targets or that our families are easy prey. Set us as watchmen on the wall! Let us be watching day and night! God help us to keep our eyes on you, even on the busy days. Lord guard our hearts and those of our loved ones. Protect our pastures so that we may grow in YOU and feed those around us Your Word so that all will know that YOU are The Lord our God (Joel 2:27).
Thank you for your analogy of the worms and our lives. It’s so eye opening and clear to see how the enemy can come into your lives, our home and begin to destroy while we are working good in other areas. We must be an army ourselves; we must always be on guard.
I so love to read your messages. MY God continue to bless you.
Thank you!!