FOR CRYING OUT LOUD Suggested Reading: Joel 1 A view from atop of Masada. The snake path seen in the centre of the photograph was the only access to this mountain fortress until the installation of the cable car. Masada represents the war torn history of the Jewish people. Joel 2:3 speaks of a desolate wilderness.? Key Verses: Joel 1:14,19a Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. …O Lord, to You I cry out! When in trouble “CRY OUT!” There are two ways to do this: (1) In a sacred assembly together with the elders (leaders of the church) in fasting and prayer. And (2) In our personal prayer times. According the the prophet Joel, when hungry and thirsty, even the “beasts of the field” (cattle, etc.) “cry out” to the Lord! Cattle will “bawl” when they are hungry or thirsty. Joel reminds his hearers of a time in the past when chewing, swarming, crawling locusts descended on their land and stripped away in hours every vestige of plant life. The people had no refrigeration, no freezers, and no canned foods such as we have in today’s developed world. Yes, they probably had stored in advance some grain products and dried foods, but they were in big trouble! These people knew what to do! No doubt they had sung Psalm 50 from their hymnbook, the Psalms. The Temple worship leader, Asaph, had composed a song of worship in which God says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15). The theme of disaster runs throughout Joel’s book. There are the locust plagues, famine, raging fires, invading armies, and fearful phenomena in “the heavens” (cosmos). But Joel does not give way to despair. Hopeful promises from God are interspersed between pronouncements of the judgments which the people have brought on themselves.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:49:01 +0000
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