To You, O Lord, I Call…

Joel 1:1-20                                                                                                                         Lesson 1

Key verse 1:19a,

“To you, O Lord, I call…”

      In Joel’s time there was an invasion of locusts such as had never been before in Judah. It was like the invasion of a foreign army (6,7). The joy of mankind had withered away. The invasion of locusts was not an accident. It was the Lord’s invitation to repent and call on the Lord. So the prophet calls to the Lord for mercy and help. God’s acts of judgment are to call people to repent. Through this passage, let us determine to never take God’s blessings for granted and come to God with humble, repentant and thankful hearts. May we know what it means to call on the name of the Lord, both for ourselves and our own but also for our ministry and nation.  

Part l: Who Is Joel?

The author of this book is Joel. What do we know about Joel? Not too much. The Prophet Joel is mentioned by name only here and in the book of Acts. Verse 1 gives us a little insight however. “The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. ” He was a prophet and the son of Pethuel. His name means “The Lord is God.” He may have lived in Jerusalem, because his audience was Judah, the southern Kingdom. Joel speaks boldly and forcefully in his short and powerful book.

Joel is possibly writing after the people returned from Babylonian captivity, since there is no mention of a king, and life seems to be centered around the temple. This means that Joel may have prophesied from about 835 to 796 B.C. in and around the time that Jehoash became the king of Judah. He writes against the background of a devastating plague of locusts. His message is one of warning, but it is also filled with hope. He warns Judah of God’s impending judgment because of their sins and urges them to turn back to God. He looks far into the future at coming judgment and coming joys. So in this sense, Joel is writing to all believers, of all time,  everywhere. (Life Application Bible, NIV)

Part ll: The Word Of The Lord Came To Joel

The word of the Lord came to Joel. Look at verse one again. “The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. ” What does it mean that the word of the Lord came to him? In the Bible, who did the word of the Lord come to? The word of God came to Abraham many times. The word of the Lord also came to John the Baptist in the desert. (Lk 3:2b) If one has enough water and shelter, deserts can be tranquil places of peace and solitude. Indeed, God wants to communicate and tell us many things. God’s word is whisper. (1 Kings 19:11-13) Therefore we must quiet our hearts, go into our “desert places” , perk our ears and listen to the still small voice of God. Practically, it means to take time out for deep and sincere meditation, prayer, Bible reading and testimony writing. We must pray, “Lord, please may your word come to me.”

The word that came to Joel was one of impending doom. Verse 2  reads, “Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers?” Joel was looking into the future as thought the events as if they had already happened. There was so much wickedness in the land and the pending destruction was so ominous. Nothing in recent memory could compare to what has happened and what will happen to the people of Judah.  Terrible things were going to happen and God wanted all generations to never forget what happened and more importantly why it happened. Look at verses 1:2a and 1:3, “2 Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land….”  “3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.” God wanted the present generation to learn from their bleak situation and urged parents to pass their history down to their children, telling them over and over the important lessons they learned. Why? Their sin was not just their own. It was a universal problem that affects every generation. We can all benefit from knowledge of how God dealt with his people in the past, for those who take note of history have a better chance of never repeating it. What should they never repeat?

The nation of Judah was God’s vineyard, yet they trampled it. Look at verse 7. “It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees.” God mentioned, “my” vines and “my” fig trees. Isaiah 5:1-4 reads, ” I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones  and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,  judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?  When I looked for good grapes,  why did it yield only bad?” From the passage we can deduce that they had been provided everything; the best vineyard. They had fruit and prosperity. God meant for his people to have joy. They would enjoy fruitful harvests, music, winepresses, oil presses, feasting, bonfires with nighttime barbeques. The people would have a common mission. They would have hope and expectation year after year. If only they would just do it God’s way!What more could God have done for his vineyard? Providing the vineyard was the pure, undeserved grace of God.

But their sin brought a quite different scenario. Look at verses 4-7, “What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts ^[a] have eaten.  5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. 6 A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number;  it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. 7 It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark  and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.” Their punishment would be devastating. The people hoped that they might be left with a morsel of food to eat. But as soon as they tried to put a scrap of food into their mouths, teenagers locusts snatched it from them. They tried to find another morsel of food. As soon as they put that near there mouths tiny, nymph grasshoppers snatched it from them. There is more. Look at verse 7,  “It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark  and thrown it away, leaving their branches white. “; and verses 11-12, “Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers;  grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.  12 The vine is dried up  and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree—  all the trees of the field—are dried up. Surely the joy of mankind is withered away.” ; and verse 16, “16 Has not the food been cut off  before our very eyes—  joy and gladness from the house of our God? ” Everything was wasted and ruined. They had nothing left to build for the future. No resources, nothing to trade with. Their economy crumbled. The vineyards no longer had any value. No joyful laughter could be heard in the fields. There were only wailing of those bemoaning their pitiful condition. The locusts represent devastation, and that is what occurred, pure devastation.  They were completely hopeless. God blesses us, but we can ruin and destroy everything overnight because of our sins. This is never God’s intention however.

The devastation, brought on by the locust swarm can be likened to life in this world for many. This world is merciless. It takes and takes and leaves you with nothing. Our suffering comes in waves, like wave after wave of locusts. All of our hopes are dashed to the pieces and left as chaff on a parched field. Satan is merciless. He wants to see us totally destroyed and eternally separated from God. In this situation, Jesus is our only true hope and salvation.  1 Peter 1:3-4 reads, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,”  Satan wants everything in your life to perish spoil and fade. But Jesus is full of hope. He has more hope than any of us can handle. Hopelessness is like living in darkness. But Jesus is the light of the world. (John 8:12)

The spiritual life of the people suffered. Look at verse 9, “ Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests are in mourning,  those who minister before the LORD. “ The people had no wine or grain to offer. In their desperation they may have stopped offering to God all together. The priests, who should have been strong to lead the suffering flock, were overcome with mourning. Can you image a pastor on the pulpit mourning and weeping, begging his congregation to comfort him? He should be giving words of hope and comfort to them and building up the church in those desperate times. (1 Corinthians 14:2; Haggai 1:4) They were rendered impotent as servants of God. How could they continue ministering before the Lord?

Others suffered because of the peoples’ sin. Look at verse 18 and 20. ” The herds mill about because they have no pasture;  even the flocks of sheep are suffering.”….“20 Even the wild animals pant for you;  the streams of water have dried up  and fire has devoured the open pastures.” The sin of the people of Judah caused the domesticated and the wild animals to suffer. We think that our own sins are our own business and no one else’s’. But the truth of the matter is, our lives influence many around us. We do not stand alone. It is true that we have much freedom on Jesus, but with that freedom comes much responsibility. Look at what Paul tells us. 1 Corinthians 8: 9 and 13 reads, “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. …13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”  We need to consider our neighbors and our influence on them and build them up instead of tearing them down by our influence.

Part lll: The Beginning Of Restoration

Nestled within this chapter is the secret to the beginning of the peoples’ restoration. Verse 2a, “ Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land….”  All people, especially the elders needed to listen to the word of the Lord. Verse 2b reads, “… Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers?”  They needed come out of their deception and recognize the reality of their condition and weep (5a), that is, care deeply about their sin and their fallen condition. Verse 8 reads, “8 Mourn like a virgin ^[b] in sackcloth, grieving for the husband ^[c] of her youth.” This is deep mourning. This virgin had hope in family, but her hopes were crushed with not even a child born from her union. Her situation is bone crushing. Basically. God wants us to know that we have reached rock bottom and need to stop grasping at straws. They needed to agree with God and turn to him. Then they needed to teach the lessons they have learned to the next generation. Look at verse 3, ” Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.“ People recover from any crisis better when they take positive steps to make sure it never happens again. Like a person with lung cancer teaching young people to never smoke.

The spiritual leaders had to take the lead in repentance, helping the populace to do the same. Look at verses 13-14, “ Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn;  wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth,  you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.  14 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. “ Sack cloth is the clothing put on by mourners at a funeral. A fast was a period of time when no food was eaten. People were to approached the throne of God in humility of heart, sorrow over their sin, and offer up urgent prayers. It was a demonstration of their change of heart. “Crying out” prayer to God is always the way out any desperate situation. Listen to what God says in  2 Chronicles 7:13-15;  “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” May God make us into people of “crying out” prayer.

Repentance could not be put off any longer. Look at verse 15, “ Alas for that day!  For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.”  The implication of this is that they could no longer wait with true repentance. They needed to do it, like, yesterday! Paul relies on this principle in his discourse with the Corinthian Christians. He said in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, “ 1As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2For he says,  “In the time of my favor I heard you,  and in the day of salvation I helped you.”^[a] I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” It is always the best policy to never put off repentance, but come to Jesus in humility of heart ASAP. Today is the day of salvation for each and every one of us.      What is the anticipated end result of all of Judah’s training? Look at verse 14, “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. ” and verse 19a, “To you, O LORD, I call,…” God’s training for his people is always redemptive. (Romans 8:28) The end results of all these difficult times is absolutely good. It helped the people repent of their sins, to gather together and to cry out to God for salvation.

The day of the Lord referred to here is a present event, but it also foreshadowed the final day of the Lord. This final event of history would be the last judgment on all evil and sin and the final  reward for all of the faithful believers. All of God’s people look forward to this final day with expectant joy and true hope, because then, true justice will prevail and all those, with a right relationship with God, will be united with their Heavenly Father for all eternity.

Through this passage, let us take head of what God is trying to tell us. God wants to speak to each of hearts and let us know what is on his heart. Let us make a serious self examination of our own hearts and spiritual lives and respond with prayer and repentance. Do we want to wait until our lives are totally ravaged by the consequence of our sins. Do we only turn to God when there is absolutely no other option. No way! Today is the day of salvation. It all begins with confession, repentance and faith enough to lift up our heads and hearts to heaven and cry out to God. In his mercy he will save, heal and restore.

To You, O Lord, I Call…

Joel 1:1-20                                                                                                                         Lesson 1

Key verse 1:19a,

“To you, O Lord, I call…”

      In Joel’s time there was an invasion of locusts such as had never been before in Judah. It was like the invasion of a foreign army (6,7). The joy of mankind had withered away. The invasion of locusts was not an accident. It was the Lord’s invitation to repent and call on the Lord. So the prophet calls to the Lord for mercy and help. God’s acts of judgment are to call people to repent. Through this passage, let us determine to never take God’s blessings for granted and come to God with humble, repentant and thankful hearts. May we know what it means to call on the name of the Lord, both for ourselves and our own but also for our ministry and nation.

Part 1: How Could This Happen To Me?

1.    Who wrote this book? What do we know about him? (1) What does it mean that the word of

the Lord came to Joel? What does this teach us about God? What was Joel concerned about?

Who was Joel addressing? (2a; 3) Why did he want generation after generation to know

what was happening in his day? (3)

2.    What was the situation of Israel before these events? What was their condition now? (4-7;

10-12; 16-18; 19b-20) Think about their hopelessness (4, 6, 10) , fruitlessness (7, 11-12,

16a), joylessness (16, 12b), inability to provide for the future and be a blessing (10, 11, 17b,

20b), the condition of God’s house? (9)  Who else was affected by their sin? (18, 20) How

did they get in this desperate situation?

Part 2: The Beginning Of Restoration

3.    What is the starting point to resolving their predicament? (2a, 3, 5a, 8a, 13, 14,) What does it

mean to hear and listen? (2a); to tell of God to the younger generation? (3);  to wake up,

weep and wail? (5a) ;  to mourn in sackcloth? (8a);  to grieve for the husband of their youth?

(8a) What must be the response of servants of God? (13-14) Why could they not wait in

order to begin repenting? (15, 18) Why is the “Day of Lord” also a consolation?

4.    What was the end result of these trials? (14,19a) What does it mean to call or cry  out to

God? Why is forming a holy vessel of prayer important in restoration? Why does it take hard

times for people to cry out to God and gather together to pray? Is this the way it has to be?

What is an alternative way?