Thoughts on Joel 1

Today’s reading: Joel 1; Mark 3

Even as Joel is declaring the Lord’s judgement upon Israel, we still see that ever present theme of Old Testament Scripture, that God desires to relent of the calamity that He is bringing up the people, if only they will turn back to Him.

In terms of context, we don’t actually know when Joel was written. If you look it up, you see arguments for dates ranging from the 800s, before the destruction of Solomon’s temple, all the way up into the 200s, in the midst of the second temple period. That in an of itself says something to us about Israel. No matter how many times God rescued His people from destruction, no matter how many times He intervened on their behalf, and no matter how many prophets He sent to them, calling them to turn back to Him, for hundreds of years they refused to listen and lived constantly at the edge of judgement and destruction.

Joel describes, in chapter 1 this morning, both the threat from an opposing army, as well as the threat from nature (drought, locusts, etc.). Both of these are things God declared, from the days of Moses, that He would bring upon Israel as warnings if they turned from Him. Like ramping up consequences for a child if they persist in not listening, God did not want to destroy Israel for their rebellion, and so sought to discipline them instead. He had promised to flourish them in the land, that the rains would never fail and their harvests would always be plentiful, so when He brought the famine and pestilence, it was to make them recognize their sin and turn back to Him. In the same way, He had promised to establish them as the powerful nation that others would pay tribute to, so as armies more powerful than them start knocking at the door, it is intended as a wake up call to rise from their spiritual stupor and turn back to the God who is greater than any army could ever be. But the more Israel stiffens her neck in the face of God's discipline, the more He has to ramp up the pressure to try to get their attention.

Even in the midst of declaring all the discipline that the Lord is bringing upon Israel, Joel does not despair or consider this the end for Israel. Instead, he calls the people to repent, to put on sack cloth and mourn over their sin, to call for a fast among the people, and for the elders to turn back to the Lord. No matter the discipline they are facing, Joel's confident expectation is that if they turn back to the Lord, He will relent of the calamity that He has brought upon them and restore them, just as He always promised He would.

The mercy of God never ceases to amaze me. It doesn’t matter how long His people rebel, or how far they run from Him, He never gives up, and His desire is never to judge, but always to restore them in their relationship with Himself.