JOEL 2

JOEL 2

JOEL 2

The trumpet of warning (1–11). The calamities that come to our lives should awaken us and remind us that the Lord is in control. The locusts were God’s army (vv. 11, 20, 25), and the day was “the day of the Lord.” This is a sobering truth, but it is also a comforting truth (2 Sam. 24:14). The Lord who wounds will also heal (Hos. 6:1).

The trumpet of weeping (12–17). The prophet summoned the people to return to God with fasting and confession. Never be afraid to come to the Lord in honesty and humility because He is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness” (v. 13). As you pray, think about magnifying the glory of God (v. 17) as well as escaping the suffering that sin causes.

The promise of blessing (18–32). God promised to remove their reproach and restore His blessings to the land. “Monstrous things” (v. 20) will be replaced by “marvelous things” from the Lord (v. 21), and joy will take the place of fear. Verses 28–32 refer especially to the future day of the Lord, but Peter’s use of them at Pentecost (Acts 2:16–21) suggests that they have a spiritual application today.

Restoration

The Lord said, “So I will restore to you the years that the . . . locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25). God promised them bumper crops that would make up for all they had lost because of the drought and the locust plague. “Lost years can never be restored literally,” said Charles Spurgeon. “Time once past is gone forever. . . . You cannot have back your time; but there is a strange and wonderful way in which God can give back to you the wasted blessings, the unripened fruits of years over which you mourned. The fruits of wasted years may yet be yours.”

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