Readings for today: Joel 1-3
I have seen the devastation of a locust plague firsthand. Crops that are destroyed. Herds decimated for lack of food. Famine in the land as people struggle to find enough to eat. A few years ago, locusts came to East Africa. They marched through nation after nation. Kenya. Ethiopia. Somalia. Uganda. South Sudan. Literally trillions of insects devastating fields and pastures. The plague lasted for almost three years and put millions at risk of starvation. It makes what we read today from the Book of Joel seem very relevant. “It is a huge and powerful army - there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! Like fire they devour everything in their path; a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness - for nothing escapes them! They look like horses; they charge ahead like war horses. They sound like chariots rumbling over the mountain tops…they charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers…they burst through the city defenses and do not break ranks.” (Joel 2:2b-8 NET)
Where do people turn in the face of such calamity? Where do people go when faced with such a disaster? For the people of God, we turn to the Lord. We return to Him with our whole hearts. We cry out to Him for help. We ask the Lord to do what only He can do. Restore the years the locusts have eaten. Restore the fields and pastures. Restore the trees and vines. Fill our threshing floors with new grain and our vats with new wine. We call on God to fulfill His promise - “I will make up for the years that the arbeh-locust consumed your crops - the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust - my great army that I sent against you.” (Joel 2:25 NET) We call on Him because we can trust His character - “for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love - often relenting from calamitous punishment.” (Joel 2:13 NET)
Books in the Bible like Joel do beg an important question. One we wrestle with constantly in our modern understanding of the world. We struggle to understand how natural disasters like locusts plagues could be signs of God’s judgment. We struggle to understand why God would allow such things to happen. In fact, many today believe the presence of suffering in our world to be the greatest apologetic against the existence of God. This is was not an issue most believers throughout history. They believed in God’s sovereignty. They trusted God’s sovereignty. They understood that everything that happens in life - the good, the bad, and the ugly - is used by God to draw us back to Himself. Back to a right relationship with Him. And that’s why Joel calls on them to repent even in the midst of their suffering.
Our world is full of all kinds of suffering and pain. It serves as a daily reminder that this world is not as it should be. It is not as it was created to be. We feel this deep in our bones. It’s like we all have this longing deep inside for another world. A different world. A world where we walked with God. The Bible calls it Eden. Many cultures call it Paradise. Many religions call it heaven. It’s the persistent echo of another time and another world that seems hardwired into our souls. Thankfully, God wants to lead us there. God wants us to join Him there. All He asks is that we turn to Him in faith.
Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 1-4