Plagues & Drought

Joel 1:1-4

“The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land!  Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?  Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.”

What we know about Joel, as a person is very little, he was the second of the minor prophets, his name means “The LORD is God” and the Scripture never again gives reference to his dad.  His prophecy was to Judah and it may have been at the time of King Uzziah, but this we do know it was after a locust plague and a drought.

As a follower of Christ, one has to be excited when we get still, turn off the noise, and get a word from our LORD.  Often, I’ve been shocked at how God has spoken to me, in church, at home while picking up a piece of old rotten wood and wondering if it was worth keeping.  Yes, often it is while searching for the right words when putting my thoughts on paper, or just the desire to find direction for the day in the Psalms and the Proverbs.  But unlike Joel, God has not gifted us with the ability to discern a disaster as a judgment from God, it is clear that in the past God has used all kinds of natural disasters to bring his people to repentance.

Now listen to whom God is addressing through his prophet Joel, first the elders, and in that they were the leaders of the people it was the right place to begin.  But often the elders had their own agenda, much like many who have the role of leadership in our families, our government, and our churches.  So God did not leave the inhabitants of the land out of the picture; that would be you and me, and God asked this question; “Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?”

It’s a big deal, and I’m not sure we can grasp having the locust come in and remove our source of livelihood, our food supply, and when we believed it could not get worse, it did.  Verse four gives the account; “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten.  What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.”

Now this is the sad news, we as a people seem to have forgotten that our mighty, loving Father is the same today as in Joel’s time, and the Word of God is written to guide us in this life, not the one to come.  So when Joel is speaking as a spokesperson for God, he tells the people to: “Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.”  Why aren’t we as His church doing this, for sure it is not because we do not love our children, but are we expecting someone else to do what God has called us to do?  Could it be that old thief Jesus talks about in John 10:10 has fed us a line of bull so that our children and grandchildren will be ignorant of the ways of our Father, and the grace He has given to all who will receive the gift of the cross.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice