Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘ Where is their God?’” Joel 2: 17, NKJV.
Almighty God, please open our eyes to the days in which we are living. Please help us to know that You are willing to hear and answer our prayers; and that, “prayer changes things.” In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
This is the heartfelt cry of Joel, the prophet of the LORD. Israel’s sins have brought upon them, every possible pestilence. The man of God knows that if they are to be saved, there needs to be a one hundred degree turn away from their wicked ways. He calls upon the religious leaders to pray – like they have never prayed before! If YHWH is to return to their midst, they are to be willing to undergo a deep, and sincere, sorrow for their sins! He calls upon them to weep before the LORD!
At the beginning of the book of Joel, God calls upon the old men to testify, those who had lived during the “good days,” when Israel was the envy of the other nations! He asks them to “give an account,” if they, or their forefathers, had ever seen anything comparable to the condition in which the children of Israel were living (2, 3). The land was in the worst possible shape. This was a time of drought and famine, never before heard of. “What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten” (1: 4).
There is nothing with which to offer a “drink”, or a “grain, offering” to God (9), “The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished” (10, 11). They have nothing in their hands to bring. They can only pray, and hope in the endless mercies of Almighty God!
Not only the land, but the livestock, was suffering as well, “The beasts of the field also cry out to You, for the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the open pastures” (20). The sins of the people had affected the rest of creation. Does that sound familiar?
Do you get the feeling that this is what we are experiencing in the twenty first century? Do you believe that the increase in natural disasters is the result of our sins, especially for the way we have damaged God’s creation? These calamities are also signs that the coming of the Savior is drawing near. Therefore, it is time to pray! It is time to pray like we have never prayed before!
We need to begin by confessing our sins. We need to “humble” ourselves before the Almighty, admit our wrong doings, and invite Him to return to our midst. We need to ask Him to “forgive our sins,” and “heal our land” (2 Chronicles 7: 14)!
We will continue.