Readings for today: Joel 1-3
This morning a good friend of mine shared with me his anxiety over the world his children are growing up in. He told me he and his wife watched the news for the first time the other day and were simply overwhelmed by what they saw. Violence. Disease. Pain. Suffering. It made him sick to his stomach. He asked me if I thought it was God’s judgment and if we should be afraid. It’s an honest question. I told him I have some of the same concerns and anxieties and fears. I look around the world today and see everything that’s happening and I grieve. I made a commitment this year to read both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal on a daily basis and often feel like I’m on information overload. Very little of it is good.
I think the prophet Joel must have felt the same. “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten. What the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.” (Joel 1:4) Plague after plague. Defeat after defeat. The national economy crashed. An entire way of life destroyed. It had to be so depressing for him and yet what was his response? A call to faith over fear. “Consecrate a fast; call a worship assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.” (Joel 1:14) Joel is on to something important here. Any time we experience anxiety and fear, we have a choice to make. We can wallow in it. We can try to medicate it. We can attempt to dismiss it or ignore it. Or we can respond by taking it to God. Falling on our faces before Him. Humbling ourselves and crying out to Him for help.
After all, has not the Lord showed us His mercy? Is not our God a God of compassion? Forgiving those who love Him to the thousandth generation? Joel places his faith in God and God responds - as He always does - by renewing His covenant promise. “Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:12-13) God is jealous for His people. God loves the place where He has set His name. So even in times of national disaster, we look to the Lord. “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!” God has done great things for His people throughout history and He will continue to do great things in and through them if they will but turn to Him.
One of my favorite Scriptures in the entire Bible comes from Joel 2:25, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.” I have experienced this restoration firsthand. Thirteen years ago, my life was in shambles. Neglect had almost cost me my marriage. Anger had almost cost me my children. Mistakes made by me and others had blown up my career. I was out of options. In desperation I turned to the Lord. For months, I spent my nights pacing back and forth for hours in prayer. I barely got any sleep. The darkness in my life only seemed to get deeper. My anxieties and fears paralyzed me. I hit rock bottom. The “locusts” God had sent into my life stripped me down to the studs. And who did I find waiting there for me? Jesus. He walked with me in the ruins of my life. He ministered to my wounds. He calmed my fears. He slowly but surely restored me to health again. The last thirteen years have been like a dream. All because I returned to the Lord with all my heart.
Perhaps you feel a lot like my friend. Perhaps you look at the news or what’s happening in the world and you have deep concerns. Anxieties and fears for those you love. You wonder where to find hope. Return to God! Humble yourself before Him. Fast and pray. Rend your heart and give the Lord your whole heart. Let Him renew and restore you as He has promised.
Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 1-4