Day of the Lord

 

    God's Word came to Joel when it was time to warn the people about a plague of locust.  It was a forewarning of what was to come: war and the Day of the Lord.  It would be unlike any plague seen before.  The largest swarm of locust appeared and did not leave and the destruction.  They consumed everything and left nothing.  They even ate each other.

    It was a total devastation that was meant to grab their attention.  It is understandable when the people's joy withered.  The drunkards were forced to sober up.  No one the end to the suffering.  They had the clothes that they were wearing being eaten.  There was no escape the hungry and powerful teeth of the locust.  It left them hungry, thirsty, and without any comfort.  The seed and the cattle/herds died.  The people mourned, but they couldn't even do that as they were accustomed.

    The priest suffered too.  There was nothing to give as sacrifices, so their stomachs were hungry too.  The economy looked like it would never recover.  It looked like starvation was imminent.  It felt like the suffering would never end, so the priest held an assembly to get everyone to join together and mourn as one.  It was a communal lament and prayer.  

    The Day of the Lord is a terrifying time.  It is when God's judgment and punishment goes into affect.  It is the day that sin is judged.  Fire will consume the everything that the drought killed and that the locust did not eat.  The people will cry out for mercy, but only death will meet them.  The beginning of this very short book feels daunting, but the fact is that we can't mold God to do what we want.  We are the ones that are expected to change.

Joel 1