Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence. So
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
- Heb4:16
One
great question we hear all the time is, “Why did it happen? Now the “It” could
be any type of crisis of trouble. The world may call “it” a natural disaster,
human error, friendly fire, terrorism, and even an “act of God”. “It” is still
awful and no one wants “it” to happen. The truth of the matter is that “IT”
happens! In the book of Joel “it”
happened, and (we are warned) “it” was going to happen again. The name Joel
means “Yahweh is God”. The main theme of the book is impending judgment
called The Day of the Lord.
In Joel 1:1-7 we see the First Day of the Lord - The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of
Pethuel. An Invasion of Locusts 2 Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything
like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? 3 Tell
it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their
children to the next generation. 4 What the locust swarm has left the great
locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young
locusts have left other locusts[a] have eaten. 5 Wake up, you drunkards, and
weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. 6 A
nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a
lion, the fangs of a lioness. 7 It has
laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and
thrown it away, leaving their branches white.
Four types or stages of insects are described. 1.
Cutting or chewing locusts 2.
Swarming Locusts 3. Hopping or crawling locusts 4. Consuming or
stripping locusts, These stages of trouble can represent strongholds in our lives:
Gnaw (begin) – surround (places) – evident (not hidden) – complete control (lost). We see the horror in the people’s response to the
tragedy. This compares with the coming judgment. We see a hint that God may
have caused it, and they need to get right with Him (Read 1:8-9). When things
continue to get worse they call on the priests and church to get involved (Read
1:13-14).
The realization sets in, “The
Day of the Lord is near” (1:15) When bad things happen in your life do you tend to blame God or go to God for help? Your trouble may be full blown or just beginning, but the answer is always the same. Go to Jesus - Amen?
