Listen: Joel Is Trying to Warn Us!

Last evening I began a study that will take me most of the summer. It is a comprehensive study of the Minor Prophets - all twelve books, all 67 chapters. This is in preparation for a class that I will be teaching in January-February 2011. I have wrestled with some of the major teachings in each book as part of the 36-week "Genesis-Revelation" study that I have been teaching these past 11 years. But I have never truly delved into each of the books individually.

I began with Joel - not sure why, but that is where I began. The central truth of that first chapter is of a series of four devastating locust invasions, followed by an intense summer heat that has completely destroyed the crops, even to stripping the bark off trees. The ground is so parched that nothing can grow. Even the cattle and flocks moan because there is nothing for them to eat. Because of the lack of grain and wine, the grain offerings and drink offerings cannot be provided in the temple; thus the incompleteness of the burnt offerings, resulting in the worship of God being compromised (Joel 1:9).

The reason for such devastation is not directly stated in the chapter, but it is certainly implied. The cause - sin. The prophet entreats the religious leaders to "declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly" (Joel 1:14). This is a national crisis. Resolution will not be found in governmental programs or ideas, but in a genuine turning to God in repentance - a national repentance. The prophet further declares: "Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty" (Joel 1:15). In other words, judgment is certain!

But what truly grabbed my heart as I was reading this chapter was this thought: God was powerfully making a statement to Judah through a series of catastrophic natural disasters. It was to be a wake-up call to them. It was to be a time for them to re-evaluate their relationship with Him. It was a time to mourn, to grieve, and to cry out to God. It was a time for change because something worse might happen if the people continued to persist in their sinful practices.

2010 has certainly been a year of unusually powerful natural disasters. From the powerfully destructive earthquakes in Haiti and Chili to volcanic eruptions in Iceland, from historical winter snows in Europe to record flooding in America's southeastern region - it is as if God were trumpeting His strong warnings. But are we listening? Has there been a turning to God? Are people repenting of sin? Yes, in some cases people are responding back to God. But so many more are not. I keep wondering what God will do next to get our attention.

Observing first the locusts and the devastation they caused, then the intense drought, the prophet Joel declares that God's judgment is imminent. Might we say the same today as we observe the cries from the natural world? If these are truly the birth pangs, then friends, we had better begin falling on our knees before a holy God because the Judge will soon walk through His chamber doors and take His throne.