"No More Wasted Time." God is restoring the years the Locust Ate
One of my pet peeves is wasting time, because time is the one thing you can never get back. A few days ago I realized I was giving so much attention to things in my life that are out of my control. This week, I challenge you to focus on the areas in your life that you can impact. We have to stop wasting so much time on things and people that we cannot control and give your burdens to God!
As the bible says, "it is by the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed". I want you to take just a few minutes and give God praise for what God is doing in your life. Even if you are not where you want to be, you're making progress, you're pressing on! And God be praised for that pressing, for the race is not given to the swift, nor is it given to the strong, it is given to those who shall endure till the end! So this monday, We praise God for keeping us, for blessing us, for giving us the strength to hold on. Has God ever helped you to hold on? Then Give God praise. I want you to meditate on the sermon I've included in this message. God Bless you.
**ROHO TESTIMONY** **Good morning, your message today lined up with What God spirit has been speaking into my life and ministry and I could not let the moment pass. It's more than receiving for me it's about doing the work of ministry. I receive that the latter of our personal/business and spiritual life will be greater than our former and forgive. I feel like shouting hallelujah in my office right now. Bless you and what you do.
Scripture for Meditation
Joel 2:25 (KJV) — "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."
Beloved, God is not finished with your story. What the enemy meant to steal—your time, your opportunity, your peace—the Lord is restoring it sevenfold. The years you spent anxious about what you couldn't control are being redeemed by a God who wastes nothing. He sees every moment you surrendered to worry, and He is turning it into wisdom, into strength, into victory.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (NKJV) — "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."
Every morning you wake is proof that God's mercy is still working on your behalf. You did not lose your life to those wasted hours—you lost only time, and the God who created time Himself will multiply what remains. His faithfulness is not based on your performance; it is rooted in His nature.
Hebrews 12:1 (KJV) — "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
The race is still yours to run, family. Lay down those weights—the people you cannot change, the circumstances beyond your control—and run forward with the strength God gives you today.
Walking It Out
1. Make a "Relinquish List" today. Write down three things in your life right now that are completely out of your control. Beside each one, write: "I give this to God." Then physically place this list somewhere you'll see it, reminding yourself that worry is not your job—trust is.
2. Reclaim one hour this week for what you can control. Identify one area where you have agency—whether it's your health, a relationship that matters, a skill you want to develop, or a spiritual practice. Block one dedicated hour and invest it fully. This is how you begin stewarding your time like the treasure it is.
3. Speak restoration over yourself aloud. Before you go to sleep tonight, say this: "God is restoring the years the locust has eaten. I am not behind. I am exactly where I need to be, and my latter shall be greater than my former." Speak it with conviction. Words have power, and your spirit needs to hear your faith.
A Prayer for You
Father, I come to You on behalf of my beloved family who has spent too long chasing things they cannot control, who has given their peace to people and circumstances that were never theirs to fix. Lord, I ask that You would open their eyes to see the hours that remain—hours full of possibility, full of Your purpose. Restore what the enemy meant to steal. Give them the wisdom to know what is theirs to carry and the courage to lay down everything
About the Author
Rev. Nicholas S. Richards is an ordained minister, author of Destiny DNA, and founder of ROHO. For over 11 years, he has written more than 6,000 daily devotionals reaching believers worldwide. Learn more about Rev. Richards.