Joel 2:1-3, 11 “Blow the [a]trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand: a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?”
This is the point; God was behind this devastation in Loel. The Locust was next to nothing compared to the judgment to come from the Lord. This coming army was fueled by the power of God and His tool of judgment against Judah. This was the Day of the Lord coming because of years and years of disobedience. Deuteronomy 28:15 tells us, “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:” This is what God says will happen if we do not obey Him.
Isaiah 1:19-20 “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword”; for the mouth of the Lord
has spoken.”
They refused and rebelled, so faced the first punishment, then faced the second, which was the Day of the Lord and perishing by the sword. God explained what to do and what not to do over and over, yet they continued to do the wrong thing. If you are a true Believer today, you do not need to fear the Day of the Lord or disaster in your life. When we are right with God, we want the Day of the Lord. We long for Him to show His strength because we know that we abide in Him. When we are not right with God, we dread the Day of the Lord, because God shows show Himself strong. His strength may work against us. In Joel’s day Judah was not right with God, so the day of the Lord would be nothing but darkness and gloominess to them.
There is the Great Day of the Lord to come, when God judges the world, but that does not bother the Christian. God will carry you through every crisis. How would you respond to a message like the one received from the prophet Joel? Here are some tips on what to do. (1) Take a good, hard look in the mirror. Acknowledge God and His power, not yours. It is not about doing the religious thing, but about doing the “right” thing in the eyes of God. Running to a church in a crisi, but it stops there, then that is “empty” religion. The journey of looking to God should drive us to look inward, into ourselves
Joel 2:12-14 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So, rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him—a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?”
Joel says to repent and pray for the best from God. Rend your heart means that God wants your soul and not your religion by outward appearances. When you look in the mirror and see sin in yourself, stop it; go and sin no more. Some sin addictions mean that you may not be able to suddenly stop a whole destructive cycle of sin, but you can surely take a step in the “right” direction by confessing the sin, seeking forgiveness and begin moving forward. What does that have to do with a crisis? The first response to a crisis is to look inward to see how God wants to use it to change you, improve you and equip you to handle better whatever else is ahead. If you see sin, stop it. If you don’t see sin, pray and hold on until the storm passes.
Second, keep in mind that God’s justice and His judgment comes as a package deal. 1 Peter 4:17 says, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.” We are always to start with ourselves. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 talk about how we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so each one may receive for what they have done in the body. There are two judgments every Christian goes through. First, the judgment for Salvation by receiving the free gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ on this side of Heaven. By believing in His name and fished work on the Cross for our sins, and make Him the Lord of our lives, Christ’s righteousness will be imputed upon us and our sin will be forgiven and whipped away as a new child of God with the indwelling Holy Spirit for eternity. The second judgment is the one where Jesus determines what we did on planet Earth in faith and rewards us accordingly. Be sure not to make it to Heaven and realize that you wasted your life on this side.
LEt's conclude Pastor Kyle's message on finding God in crisis in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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