Daily Thoughts from Joel: Torn Hearts (2:1-17)

Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!  Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.

Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns.  The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.

Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run.  As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle.

Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale.  Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall.  They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths.  They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted.  They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief.

The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble.  The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.  The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful.  For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it?

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”  Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.  Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?

Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people.  Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants.  Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.

Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations.  Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”  (Joel 2:1-17 ESV)

Joel gives a fierce description of the army of locusts and their destructive power in order to wake his people up to the judgment at hand.  He uses imagery taken from several prophecies of judgment, darkness, quaking of earth, sun and moon darkened, and thunder.  It is God’s voice in the thunder and He is leading his army with it.  He makes clear what the nation should already know:  This kind of destruction could leave them completely vulnerable as a people and an example to other nations of how thoroughly their demise has come.

But “even now” Yahweh is open to Israel’s repentance and to a reprieve from the judgment.  Tearing the clothes was a typical way of expressing mourning, but God wants torn hearts.  He does not want to punish.  He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Joel urges Israel to call that solemn assembly and do a national fast.  He even instructs the priests how to pray and ask God to make Himself look good His promise to make Israel a nation before Him forever, to recognize His covenant.

Outward repentance is worthless.  Genuine heart agreement with God about our sin is essential.  He longs to forgive.  What is God calling you to repent of?  How genuine is your repentance?  Do not perceive His anger as greater than His forgiveness.  If your nation is being chastised, what is your part in it?  How may you repent to God on behalf of your nation?  And how will that torn heart demonstrate itself in your relationship with your community and family?