Humility, Repentance, and Readiness

The book of Joel was written, by Joel, as a sign of warning to the people. There had been a great catastrophe, which was sent by the Lord, and Joel is telling the people to cry out to the Lord for his help. In the beginning of the book, Joel presents the catastrophe that the people are facing, the locusts, and tells them to ask the Lord for help and turn from their wicked ways. He then begins to talk about an army of locusts and the coming of the Lord. The Lord promises to take care of his people and that he will judge those who will not follow him. People who treated God's people as property, or wrongly will be judged as well. Although the Lord promises to save his people and bless them, it is conditional based on the fact that if they return to their wicked ways, he can remove his blessing and send judgement instead. Joel ends the book by discussing the blessings of the Lord for his people and Jerusalem some day being completely liberated from all enemies. Major themes that Joel shows in this book are humility, repentance, and readiness.

In chapter one, verse five, Joel speaks to the drunkards and commands them to wake up and weep. I found this verse very interesting because this was the only act of sin, or rebellion against God, mentioned in the whole book of Joel. When practicing lectio divina and asking the Lord what Joel meant by this verse, it was clear to me that drunkenness may also be considered self-indulgence. The people had become numb and completely oblivious to the lifestyles of sin that they were living in. When I think about the world today, I realize that the same issues that Joel was addressing then, need to be addressed now too. We, the church, have become numb in our own self-indulgence and sin. We repeatedly say the Lord's name in vain, sit through movies that are a disgrace, and we even go to places that were designed to disrespect the name of the Lord. Yet, we repeatedly do these things because they have become part of our culture or everyday lifestyles. We are too selfish or "drunk" on ourselves that we do not see the wrong.

Then in verse fourteen, Joel is commanding the people to declare a holy fast and to cry out to the Lord. He not only mentions fasting in chapter one, but twice more in chapter two. Joel describes again and again how important it was for the people to devote themselves to prayer and intercession. People today may not find themselves dealing with actual locusts that are plaguing their lives but they do face trials and even great catastrophes. These crises overwhelm not only their lives but their communities, schools, and families. The only thing to do in these situations is to fast and pray. Fasting to me, is one of the biggest forms of humility. Going without food, drink, or even objects that take up my time, proves to the Lord that I cannot do it on my own and I am fully relying on him for every need in my life. In showing the Lord that I am fully dependent on him, I am ridding myself of the self-indulgence that Joel was talking about in chapter one, verse five.

The beginning of chapter two explains Joel's urgency or warning to the church. He says,"Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming." He's not whispering or even casually discussing the coming of the Lord. He tells them to blow the trumpet because the trumpet was used to signal approaching danger. The sound of the trumpet would raise fear in the people and "wake up the drunkards." He talks about the day of darkness and gloom coming. I think he is referring to the day of judgment that will be scary, dark, or gloomy, for those who have not been following him. Joel even asks in chapter two, verse seventeen, that the priests and ministers lead the way. They should lead their congregation back to a place of humility and prayer to the Lord. The coming of the Lord is very soon and we must return to him and turn completely from our wicked ways.

At the end of chapter two, Joel is predicting a day that the Lord will "pour out his spirit on all people." He basically is seeing the Lord sending his Holy Spirit being poured out while people are receiving blessings and gifts from him. These gifts may be prophetic gifts that the Lord has been waiting to give certain people but because of their "self-indulgence" he has not been able to release the gift to them. Sin hinders us from receiving all that the Lord has for our lives. Joel sets his book up by showing the people what they are doing wrong, telling them to repent, and revealing to them what the Lord desires to give them. In verse twenty-nine, he even makes sure that the people know that the gifts are for everyone, men and women, with no regards to race, gender, or age. The Lord desires to pour out his spirit on us.

We read this book in class and even spoke this book out loud while walking outside. If I did not fully understand then, what Joel meant, I do now. I literally wept as I read this text and even prayed about it, only to read it again. As I look at my own life and see the self-indulgence or "drunkenness" of things of this world I repent and ask the Lord to forgive me for worrying with things that do not even pertain to him. When I think about all the gifts and blessings that the Lord has not been able to give me, I become sick. We have to return to him completely, humble ourselves, and warn others about the coming of the King. I feel like this mission or goal was what Joel was doing all along.