Stop everything
This week is on Joel 2:11-17:
These verses come in a transition between a description of God's terrifying invincible army and a message of his forgiveness and blessing. Before these verses, you have the wrath and judgment of God. After them, you have grace and forgiveness. Most people talk about the before or the after, but what is in the middle? Repentance, contrition, and devotion.
God tells people to return to him with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Who does that but people who are genuinely sorry for what they've done. He wants our whole heart to be involved, not just the saying of the magic words that make everything better.
He tells us to rend our hearts, not our garments. In other words, don't beat yourself up; do something about it. Change. He tells us how compassionate and forgiving he is. It is worth trying to fix things because he notices.
He says to blow the trumpet, call a meeting, bring everyone, interrupt everyone, even newlyweds doing what newlyweds do. This is important enough that everyone is called together. There is nothing so important that this doesn't take precedence over it. All age groups are called. This is a public serious thing. It is immediate. There's no call to put it on the calendar for later, or wait until the harvest is brought in. It's a very clear "now! before it is too late!"
Even the priests get called to weep between the portico and the altar. Nobody is so holy that this doesn't affect them. They beg God for the lives of those they represent. In new testament terms, that's us interceding. In the old testament, priests were a big deal. If you think you're a big deal, even you need to take this seriously.
We get some devotion in the modern church, but not much genuine repentance and contrition. We don't have that awareness of our sin, our mistakes, and how great God's grace is for forgiving us. That's the important middle bit though. That's what comes between condemnation and forgiveness. It's seeking God, knowing on the one hand how bad we've been and on the other how very very good he is.
Just looking at God's wrath at our sin is meaningless. There's nothing we can do about it. We can't make things right, and we can't fight off God's unstoppable army of judgment.
But just looking at God's grace and forgiveness by itself isn't right either. What good is forgiveness without sin? There's nothing to forgive! And what good is grace, if it's for something tiny that wouldn't have cost much anyway?
What has meaning is being between both places, where these verses are. It's being aware of our faults at the same time as we're aware of how good God is in forgiving them. It's being given a chance to try again, and to improve. It's being able to decide not to sin next time. It's a serious place. The veil is torn back and you really see who you are next to God.
If God calls you, stop everything and go to him. If you've made a mistake repent of it now. Don't wait until later. Don't put him on your to-do list. Don't hit snooze. Stop everything and go to him.
The Lord thunders
at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.
Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.
Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
These verses come in a transition between a description of God's terrifying invincible army and a message of his forgiveness and blessing. Before these verses, you have the wrath and judgment of God. After them, you have grace and forgiveness. Most people talk about the before or the after, but what is in the middle? Repentance, contrition, and devotion.
God tells people to return to him with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Who does that but people who are genuinely sorry for what they've done. He wants our whole heart to be involved, not just the saying of the magic words that make everything better.
He tells us to rend our hearts, not our garments. In other words, don't beat yourself up; do something about it. Change. He tells us how compassionate and forgiving he is. It is worth trying to fix things because he notices.
He says to blow the trumpet, call a meeting, bring everyone, interrupt everyone, even newlyweds doing what newlyweds do. This is important enough that everyone is called together. There is nothing so important that this doesn't take precedence over it. All age groups are called. This is a public serious thing. It is immediate. There's no call to put it on the calendar for later, or wait until the harvest is brought in. It's a very clear "now! before it is too late!"
Even the priests get called to weep between the portico and the altar. Nobody is so holy that this doesn't affect them. They beg God for the lives of those they represent. In new testament terms, that's us interceding. In the old testament, priests were a big deal. If you think you're a big deal, even you need to take this seriously.
We get some devotion in the modern church, but not much genuine repentance and contrition. We don't have that awareness of our sin, our mistakes, and how great God's grace is for forgiving us. That's the important middle bit though. That's what comes between condemnation and forgiveness. It's seeking God, knowing on the one hand how bad we've been and on the other how very very good he is.
Just looking at God's wrath at our sin is meaningless. There's nothing we can do about it. We can't make things right, and we can't fight off God's unstoppable army of judgment.
But just looking at God's grace and forgiveness by itself isn't right either. What good is forgiveness without sin? There's nothing to forgive! And what good is grace, if it's for something tiny that wouldn't have cost much anyway?
What has meaning is being between both places, where these verses are. It's being aware of our faults at the same time as we're aware of how good God is in forgiving them. It's being given a chance to try again, and to improve. It's being able to decide not to sin next time. It's a serious place. The veil is torn back and you really see who you are next to God.
If God calls you, stop everything and go to him. If you've made a mistake repent of it now. Don't wait until later. Don't put him on your to-do list. Don't hit snooze. Stop everything and go to him.
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