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By Pastor Chuck Swindoll

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How to Handle the Locusts

“You don’t have to live in shame. You bring your life before the Lord, and He has a marvelous way of helping you go on. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, ‘Of all the sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, it might have been.’ My words today are designed to keep you from having to ever utter those words when you come toward the end of your ministry and look back with a sigh and think, Oh, it could have been so much more. The locusts, they’ve made me barren. I didn’t listen. When I did listen, I didn’t obey.”

Rooted in God

“You know what happens when I pour out my heart like that? Silence. He doesn’t answer audibly. He answers deep within. And you change. Something changes inside of you. As you begin to personify the humiliation of all of this, there’s something—not just stirrings—but there’s something that roots within you in God. And it holds you so close to Him.”

Take Responsibility and Pursue Restoration

“So if you find that those triangles are incongruent, with what God wants of you and what is happening right now. They aren’t in line. Start right now and have no hesitation. Start before the day ends. Start before the exams arrive. Start before we get right down to the wire. Don’t put it off, start now. Don’t pass it off. Own it all. And learn early in life that blame solves nothing. Take full responsibility, because He is able to make up for the years and to bring you into a restored relationship like you long to have. So that’s first, start immediately without hesitation.”

Return without Reservation

“Return completely without reservation. Whatever it was that pulled you off track and got you into this cool or even cold relationship that once was warm, remember how sweet it was when you first came. Remember how meaningful the voice of God was to you when you sought His mind regarding your training. Return completely without reservation, with all your heart, ‘rend your heart, not your garments.’”

Repent and Pursue an Integrity of Life

“Repent fully without rationalization. Lord, I fully acknowledge that this is where I am, and I am altogether responsible for being at this place. I’ve learned so much, but there’s a part of me that is still vacuous. And trust me, it’s that part of you that will be exposed when you’re away from these classes and these assignments and this place of academic pursuit. Real condition will be revealed. And I want you to know an integrity of life that can be so rewarding. The message is, make sure you are deep within what you appear to be from without.”

Additional Resources

First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.

Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.

Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your finger tips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.

Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.

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