Dwell in the Word Joel 1:1-20

Consider these questions as you dwell in Joel 1:1-20:

1. How does Joel's message in this passage emphasize the need for repentance and turning back to God in times of difficulty and judgment?

2. What are the specific challenges faced by the people in Joel's prophecy, and how do they perceive these events as signs of God's judgment?

3. How does the passage highlight both the judgment and the grace of God, and how should this understanding influence our daily lives and relationship with God?

Transcript:

So, as I was reading that, you were probably thinking, gee, thanks for the pick me up, right? What a depressing passage we have here. But our goal here with Dwell in the Word is to go through different passages, to go through different books of the Bible, actually, and to read them in their context and experience them that way, because that is the way that they are intended to be. We don't want to jump around and we want to deal with texts that maybe aren't the ones we would normally really come to. And here we see the difficulty that is happening well in this time that Joel is prophesying here, giving this word here, we see that he is calling out to the elders and to all the inhabitants of the land.

And the reason I highlighted that here in verse two is first he starts out with the elders, the people who maybe we see as being in leadership, but he's saying, no, this is to go to everyone. And this is a story that needs to be told. And what has happened is there has been a great difficulty that has come. Locusts have come. And so, it says, the cutting locusts came.

What? They left, then the swarming locust ate, and then the next group of locusts came in, and then the hopping locust came. Everything has been eaten, everything has been destroyed. And this is a difficulty. Where are they going to get their food?

How are they going to survive? They're not going to be able to eat the grain. They're not going to be able to sell the grain. And then it continues to get even worse. We see this in verse six here.

A nation has come up against the land. So, there's this oppressing nation that is coming. They don't have any food, and now their enemies are at the gates. They are in trouble. And so they see this as a sign of judgment from God.

And it is a sign of judgment from God. It is a judgment from God. And so what does Joel do? He calls the people to repentance, so he says, for them to put on sackcloth and lament, for the priest to wail the ministers of the altar, to do all these things, to bring the grain offerings and the drink offerings. Bring them to God.

You have forgotten them, you've withheld them, it says here. And so now go to God. Repent. Turn from your evil ways and turn to God. They see this again and they understand this for what it is.

It is a judgment from God. And notice what is happening here. Alas, for the day, for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. They are not seeing these two incidents as just random things happening in their lives. They are not seeing these things as, oh, the locusts came, bad things happen.

The enemies are here. They are understanding what is happening. They see this as the judgment of God. And while not every bad thing that happened is an actual judgment, specific judgment from God, here Joel is making it clear that it is a judgment from God. They have turned away from God.

They're not giving the sacrifices, they're not keeping God's law as they have been told. And so they are called to. Joel is calling the priest to do this. And so what is happening here is a call to repentance, to return to the Lord their God, for he is gracious and merciful. And so, as we think about this passage, we see this sort of doom and gloom that has been coming down and has been escalating up against them.

What does it mean for us? Well, I'm not going to tell you that every bad thing that happens in your life you should now see as a judgment from God. And you need to repent. But what this passage does remind us of is the importance of understanding the need to repent, to daily turn from our sin and turn to Christ and to trust God's word and to believe it, and to keep trusting in Him alone for our salvation. Because these people, they turned away from that and judgment came.

Now, I'm not saying that you're a one behavior issue away from God smiting you. That's not the idea here that I'm trying to convey that this passage has for us. See, we have an understanding of not only the judgment of God, but the grace of God. Why? Because we understand what Jesus has done for us.

We see the judgment of God in the cross, but we see the forgiveness of God in the cross and that calls us to repentance. And so we see both ends of what is happening here. We see the terrible things that have happened, the judgment that was brought on Christ, but we also see that Christ forgave our sins because of that judgment. And so that should constantly give us this thought that we should turn away from our sin because we have been shown amazing mercy in Christ. So may we look at the things that have happened to the people of God, and may we not want to let our lives go that direction.

May we be desiring to live faithfully, to keep God's law, to grow in holiness, that we might bring praise to Christ today and every day.