What Is Left

Joel, the prophet son of Pethuel, cries out to the inhabitants of the Southern Kingdom of Judah to hear God’s entreaty.  Joel’s name means “Jehovah is God.” The prophet uses the analogy of a scourge of locusts to illustrate the complete and total destruction that will be experienced by the ungodly in the coming Day of the Lord.  The content of this book is prophetically multi-dimensional, in that it describes the past, present and future on several levels.    Joel speaks of the Day of the Lord, which is another term for The Second Coming of Christ.  The prophet beseeches the people to turn, repent and pray for deliverance.  The name of Joel’s father, Pethuel means “God delivers or enlarged of God,” and that is the hope and promise that this book offers.

Joel describes the total destruction:

Joel 1:4 “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.”

A scourge is facing our society as well.  What drug addiction has left, AIDS has eaten, and what violence and Anorexia have left are: generations of children who are growing into dysfunctional and lost adults.  The dollar-driven media and entertainment culture that inundates our psyches daily in this society broadcasts disease and calls it desirable.   The minds of our children are being poisoned by violence, sexual images, materialism, and warped body images.  Media advertises opinions and ideals and unless we consciously reject these ungodly mirages, we are selling our lives out to them.  An enemy has done this.  A good minister will not only present the problem facing a people, but offer God’s solution to it as well.  Joel does just this:

“Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.  And rend your heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of evil” (Joel 2:12,13).

Our children are at stake.  The problem has been presented: Satan wants to devour our young, just as he attempted to kill Jesus through Herod.  The solution is total repentance and turning to the Lord as our help and Deliverer.  We can’t live like the world and it call it Godly.  Our children see and take in everything we do.  The need is repentance and obedience in allowing God to have His way in our lives.  There is blessing promised now and in eternity to those who will listen and obey God.

Joel 2:25,26,27 “ And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.  And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.  And ye shall know that I in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.”    

Patti