Joel 1
The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
Hear this, O elders,
And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this happened in your days
Or in your fathers’ days?
Tell your sons about it,
And let your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.
Awake, drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is cut off from your mouth.
For a nation has invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.
It has made my vine a waste
And my fig tree splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.
The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
From the house of the LORD.
The priests mourn,
The ministers of the LORD.
The field is ruined,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine dries up,
Fresh oil fails.
Be ashamed, O farmers,
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
The vine dries up
And the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Indeed, rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men.Gird yourselves with sackcloth
And lament, O priests;
Wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth
O ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.Consecrate a fast,
Proclaim a solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD.Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near,
And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Has not food been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and joy from the house of our God?
The seeds shrivel under their clods;
The storehouses are desolate,
The barns are torn down,
For the grain is dried up.
How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep suffer.
To You, O LORD, I cry;
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
Even the beasts of the field pant for You;
For the water brooks are dried up
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
If the LORD has bought us with the precious blood of His son, if He has been long-suffering with our idolatry, if He has been gracious with our sin then you, Believer, slave of Christ, can be certain He will finish His good work in you - He will produce a Saint.
And when we turn away and seek other idols, or become like these drunkards- our minds clouded with pleasure, or like the priests who no longer can make offerings to YHWH because there is no fruit in the land - be certain that the LORD will avenge His righteous name and discipline our sin.
He will forcibly take what we delight in that is not Himself. He takes the vine, thus removing the sweet wine… He takes the produce, removing prosperity… He takes the cooling streams, and we will pant for His Word. If the Lord loves you, He will destroy your idols by His Grace and remove your crutch so you can stare into His Holiness and bow. HEAR, LISTEN, TELL, AWAKE, WEEP, WAIL, GIRD yourselves, LAMENT, CONSECRATE a fast, PROCLAIM a solemn assembly, GATHER together, CRY out - for the LORD is near.
Destruction of idols will occur…
do we choose to wait until the LORD devastates us?
or do we address the problem now, cut down our own Asherim, repent and look towards the Gospel?
