Joel 1 Devotional

Where to Turn When Fields Fail

“To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field.”Joel 1:19 (BSB)

Joel opens by asking whether anything like this has ever happened before, and telling the elders to pass the story down for generations (1:2-3). Wave after wave of locusts has eaten what the last wave left (1:4). Vines are stripped, fig trees splintered, grain and wine and oil gone (1:7-10). Even the grain and drink offerings at the house of the LORD have been cut off (1:9). The joy of the people has dried up with the orchards (1:12).

Joel does not explain the disaster away. He calls priests and people to put on sackcloth, proclaim a fast, gather at the house of the LORD, and cry out to him (1:13-14). He sees in it a warning that the day of the LORD is near (1:15). Then he leads the way and prays himself, calling on the LORD over the scorched pastures, while even the wild animals pant for God (1:19-20). When the things you depend on are stripped away, the place to turn is the God who still hears.

To think about: When something you rely on is taken away, is your first instinct to cry out to God or to manage the loss alone?