A Dry And Thirsty Land
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Last week.....
Plague of Locusts
Prophets emphasis on remembering what God did, how God brought them through, that God is their anchor
Dangers we talked about
Apathetic, comfortable in our sin, lax when times are good, lax in caring for and serving others
Empty religion - going through the motions - don’t get concerned until something is no longer there, like for the sacrificial rituals from our text this morning or when something goes wrong, like the locust plague.
Turn with me this morning to:
8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
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.
10 The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails.
11 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 people’s joy is withered away.
13 Put on sackcloth, you 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.
15 Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.
18 How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.
As we continue in chapter one, we see this idea of mourning pop up. You might be going, wait a minute, what are they mourning? Loss, devastation would be obvious answers, however, I believe it goes deeper. God wants them to mourn over their sin. To mourn over their inability to offer the daily grain and drink offerings. God wants repentance and without it, these offerings are meaningless. They are essentially going through the motions or checking off a box.
Mourning was something that was done publicly in that time. The image of the virgin grieving is one that we do not know for sure the exact circumstances of the virgin, but just that she is mourning. NBBC - not to grieve publicly was a sign of disrespect to the dead and to their relatives.
For the priests, the inability to offer drink and grain offerings also meant they would go hungry. The priests would have mourned the loss of communion with God while also realizing that their portion of those that provided nourishment would also be no more.
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!
Friends, God is more concerned with our hearts and our obedience than checking items off a to do list to feel good about ourselves. In the western church, I fear that all to often we have reduced the things of God to a checklist of things to do versus a completely surrendered and obedient lifestyle.
In verse 10-12, we see the image that this devastation of the land would have a spreading and lasting effect on the entire nation. It would have:
Ruined produce- grain, fruit, olives, figs, dates.
Trees destroyed- years to re-grow before they can produce - you don’t just plant a tree and expect it to bear fruit right away, it would take years to replace.
Commerce and Trade- severely crippled and even stopped.
Lost joy- b/c they had lost God’s blessing.
Their way of life was completely destroyed - complete loss of agricultural products would have been more devastating than we probably realize.
The title of this next part of the passage starting in verse 13 in the NIV is “A Call to Lamentation.” The word lament is both a noun and a verb. As a noun it means a passionate expression of ones grief or sorrow. As a verb, it means to mourn.
All were being called to grieve. But then we get to verses 13 and 14, as see again this call of God for remorse and repentance. However, there must be remorse and grieving before repentance. Getting anything turned around before God involves being remorseful, but that alone is not enough, it must be followed by repentance.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the British painter and poet, was so desolate when his wife committed suicide after only two years of marriage that he vowed to bury the poems he had written for her. He placed the book in the coffin, wrapped in the tresses of her long hair. But after a few years Rossetti regretted his decision. He believed that the poems were some of the best he had ever written. It seemed senseless to leave them buried. After a lengthy court battle Rossetti won the legal right to open the grave and recover the book.
Rossetti’s change of heart is similar to the way some people approach repentance. They may resolve to make changes or take action. But when the initial discomfort of their guilt dies down, they may have second thoughts and regret their decision. Others would prefer to avoid the discomfort of repentance altogether. They prefer a painless faith without the anguish of repentance. God, however, values repentance. One reason He allowed the people of Joel’s day to experience the devastation of the locust plagues was to bring them to a point of genuine grief over their sins (Joel 1:8). The resulting cessation of grain and drink offerings served as a painful reminder of the way their sins had hindered their fellowship with God (cf. Nu 29:39). These were hard measures designed to shatter their complacency. God intended for His people to feel remorse for their sin. The Hebrew term that is translated “despair” in Joel 1:11 might also be translated “be ashamed.” But this was not His only purpose. He did not merely hope that these experiences would make people feel badly about their sins. He also wanted them to “wail” or lament (Joel 1:11). True repentance expresses sorrow for sin.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/joel-devotionals-and-sermon-illustrations
In verses 13 and 14, Joel’s attention goes back to the priests. The prophet calls them to put on sackcloth, which would have been a course garment made of goat or camel hair. It was common while mourning in that day. They were to mourn because they were not able to offer the sacrifices at the altar, which is a primary part of their service before God.
It is important to note that word “your” before God at the end of verse 13. The prophet is pointing out that the God on whose behalf he is speaking is the same God the priests serve at the altar. It is an important distinction on the validity of the prophet’s message.
Verse 14 is likely one we’ve heard quoted at various times in the life of the church.
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.
A communal fast often accompanied a time of mourning or loss. It was observed usually by a day long deprivation of food and maybe water. Joel is encouraging the priests to call on all to be participatory in the public grief. The solemn assembly was to be in the house of the Lord Your God to mourn the loss of the fertility of the land and where offerings are no longer able to be offered, while also hoping for the restoration of the land and the restoration of offerings. Crying out to God is symbolic to the covenant God had made with their ancestors and to help them to remember God’s faithfulness in the past.
• Vs. 15 The Day of the LORD.
There are many ways the day of the Lord is interpreted, but Israel saw it as when God would pour out His judgment on all their enemies. However it is important to note that God’s judgment is reserved for all who are in rebellion against Him(including Israel) - while not linked to the people’s sin directly, it should motivate us all to turn to Yahweh for security - we can trust and rely on him no matter what else is going on.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
• Vv. 16-18 The effects of God’s wrath on sin are even seen in nature.
o No more seeds.
o Beasts have nothing left to eat - the cattle moan....
Even the animals are impacted by the calamity, not just the humans. It shows us how utterly dependent we are on God as human beings. We must remember that as humans we are not separate from creation, but interconnected with it. Human suffering and creation suffering occur side by side. We are all in need of the redemption that is to come.
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
o Even this God will restore when He brings forth the New Heaven and the New Earth.
• Vv. 19-20 Fire, severe drought (both). These verses are seen as a prayer to Yahweh and utter dependency on Yahweh. The remainder of the verses talking about fire and drought point back to the previous verses and these experienced realities become expressions of prayer. They bring their situation before God.
Sin can also leave our lives dry and bare and nothing on this earth is able to quench it and make it new again, however Jesus made us this promise. We are to long for the living water we find in John 4:
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
So what do we do about it in our lives? How does this apply to us?
o Getting back to the basics - get ourselves in right relationship with God - don’t become complacent or apathetic.
o Putting God and His Word first in our lives
• God wants renewal and revival for all
It has to start in the church - with God’s people who are already members of God’s Kingdom - we need to take the call to repentance seriously, and I’m afraid we do not always do this - we have become comfortable.
A mother was working in the kitchen when she heard the sound of whimpering on the back porch. When she opened the door, she saw her small son sitting on the steps nursing a bruised finger and crying. He and a friend had been loading rocks in a basket when one of the rocks had landed on his hand. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” his mother asked. The boy sheepishly replied that he had been afraid to come to her. “Afraid?” she said in amazement. “Why would you be afraid?” “I thought you might be angry,” the boy explained. The mother bandaged her son’s finger and as she hugged him she said, “You never have to be afraid to come to us when you are hurt.”
The consequences of Israel’s disobedience in Joel’s day had been painful for both man and beast. A combination of locusts and drought had destroyed the crops. Men and animals alike were suffering. What is more, the shortage of food had interrupted the cycle of temple sacrifices and festivals (Joel 1:16). The pitiful lowing of hungry cattle and the bleating of starving sheep mirrored the anguished cries of God’s people (Joel 1:18). As Joel watched wild fires consume land and crops, he added his voice to this chorus of suffering (Joel 1:19). This was God’s intention. His design was that Israel’s suffering would make them aware of their own sin and would instill in them a longing for restoration. These sufferings prompted God’s creation to “pant” or long after God (Joel 1:20). It could only be hoped that His people would be as wise as the animals they tended.
How have you responded to the difficult circumstances in your life? Would you say that they have drawn you closer to God, or are you in danger of being driven away from Him? Take time to examine the difficulties you face. How has God been using them to teach you more about His faithfulness and forgiveness? While not every problem you meet may be a case of divine discipline, you can have confidence that God is lovingly working through the events that come your way to produce spiritual growth in your life.