Glory to God! Hallelujah! The Lord has been good to us throughout the past week. Even though we failed Him time and time again and our relationship with Him was not always perfectly right, the Lord stayed close to us and He did not turn His back on us. The Lord who created us in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7) remembers that we are but flesh, a wind that passes away and does not return (Psalm 78:39). The Lord was extra-cautious about us and did not accuse us as our sins deserve but extended His loving kindness toward us, as one of the Psalmists stated: He [the Lord] will not always accuse us, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:9-10). On one occasion the Lord said to Himself: My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal … (Genesis 6:3). Also, the Lord assured us as He spoke through prophet Isaiah that I will not accuse them forever, nor will I always be angry, for then they would faint away because of me – the very people I have created (Isaiah 57:16). Despite our hearts being disloyal to Him, and us [that is, you and I] being unfaithful to His covenant, He neither forsake us nor punish us; rather He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath against us or repay us according to our iniquities. He was compassionate towards us and forgave our iniquities and did not destroy us, as it is mentioned in the Scripture: They would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues. Their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath (Psalm 78:36-38). If the Lord God does not retrain His anger that flares up against us, we will perish in no time because we the human beings are so silly and brittle and our flesh is like the grass or the flowers of the field, as prophet Isaiah stated: All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass (Isaiah 40:6-7; also refer to 1 Peter 1:24). Praise God for He is a compassionate and loving God, as Psalm 145:8-9 states: The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. It is because God is compassionate and gracious, we are not consumed, as prophet Jeremiah stated: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23). Glory to God!

The Lord has blessed us with a very persuasive and rewarding Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week, which is taken from the writings of prophet Joel, which states: 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 … (Joel 2:12-14). The prophetic book of Joel is written by Joel son of Pethuel (Joel 1:1). He mainly served among the people of Jerusalem and Judah. We can identify two important factors that stands out in the prophecies of Joel that are closely connected with the day of the Lord are: (i) the invasion of locusts – the mighty army of God (Joel 1:1-4; 2:25); and (ii) the outpouring of the Spirit on all people in the last days (Joel 2:28-29; also refer to Acts 2:14-21). Joel also deal with the sinfulness and rebelliousness of human beings against their creator God, especially among God’s chosen people (Joel 1:5; 9-12; 2:12-13); God’s judgement upon everyone who live in wickedness – whether it is His chosen people Israel (both Israel and Judah as one nation) who follow His righteous laws and decrees and commands or the foreign nationals who neither worship Him nor follow His righteous laws and decrees and commands (Joel 3:2, 12; also refer to Psalm 34:16; 9:5); and the possibility of escaping from God’s judgement through true repentance and pleading with their creator God (Joel 2:12-13, 18-19). Joel also preached about the importance of being pure and holy and the restoration of those who repent and return to Him. The day of the Lord is another area prophet Joel focused on, as he mentioned: Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty (Joel 1:15); and he continued saying: For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains … [10] The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness … [11b] For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it (Joel 2:1b-2a, 10-11). We can understand that the righteous will be spared on the day of the Lord and His blessing will cherish and nourish them (Joel 2:21-27) but the wicked and unrighteous will be punished for their actions/deeds (Psalm 9:5). At the end of it all, that is, after the judgement of the world and the wicked; the Lord God will restore His Kingdom and gather His people to Himself and they will reign with Him for ever and ever (refer to Joel 2:32-3:1).

Prophet Joel signals the invasion of the land of Judah by locusts [the great army that God sent among them / Joel 2:25] with God’s judgement on the day of the Lord (Joel 1:1-4; 2:30-31). After God’s judgement upon Judah, for their numerous sin and rebelliousness against Him, using the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar – who invaded and scattered them to Babylon and its neighboring nations, the Lord used the kings of Medo-Persian empire to punish the Babylonians, who conquered their land and reigned over them. Following the fall of Babylon, the Lord caused Cyrus king of Persia to allow the people of Judah to return to their homeland (Ezra 1:1-4; 5:11-17). When the Lord God brought the remnant of Israel back to the land the Lord God Almighty gave to their forefathers as their inheritance, they were zealous for God – the God of their fathers, and they worshipped and served Him faithfully. However, as days passed by, they took their attention from the Lord God who redeemed/saved them and focused on themselves and the things they desired for in life [similar to a situation described in Haggai 1:4-11] (refer to Joel 1:1-4). They, knowingly or unknowingly, failed to acknowledge the goodness and mercy of Yahweh, the God of Israel, who, in His mercy and loving kindness, brought the remnant of His people back to Jerusalem and Judah. Yet, in the course of time, they forgot His loving kindness towards them and acted unfaithfully. Despite their sinful nature and rebelliousness and selfishness, the Lord God who had chosen them to be His people urged them to return to Him with all their heart and with fasting and weeping and mourning, as prophet Joel asserted:

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 (Joel 2:12-13)

Although the Lord God Almighty, the God of their fathers, time and time again urged the people whom He chose for Himself to return to Him with all their heart and with fasting and weeping and mourning, they neither obeyed His commands wholeheartedly nor returned to Him with fasting and weeping and mourning, rather they continued to live a self-satisfied life without caring about the matters of God or others (Joel 1:13-14; 2:12-13). Due to their unwillingness to return to Him, the Lord punished them by sending locusts, a great and mighty army of God (Joel 2:25), which destroyed their crops and everything else in the land (Joel 1:4, 10-12). In fact, the locusts destroyed almost everything that is green in Judah, which include the vineyards, the grain field, the gardens, and the trees, and so on (1:6-7, 11-12). These locusts advanced like warriors/soldiers without swerving from their course, as prophet Joel described in Joel 2:2b-11 …

Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes,

such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.

Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes.

Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, 

behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them.

They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.

With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops,

like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale.

They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers.

They all march in line, not swerving from their course.

They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead.

They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks.

They rush upon the city; they run along the wall.

They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows.

Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble,

the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

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 though a vast majority of people [whether it is in the past or present time], including some of God’s chosen people, were unwilling to build up a life that is rooted (i) in the truth of God, or (ii) in the spiritual principles He established in the universe, the Lord who is compassionate and loving hesitated to sent calamity to punish them, as several of God’s prophets pointed out that God relents from sending calamity, for instance:

• • … The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity (Joel 2:13)
  • … Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing … (Joel 2:14)
  • … Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened (Exodus 32:14)
  • … The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked (Numbers 14:20)
  • … for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented (Psalm 106:45)
  • … if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring (Jeremiah 18:8)
  • … Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish (Jonah 3:9)
  • … So the LORD relented. This will not happen, the LORD said (Amos 7:3)
  • … When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened (Jonah 3:10)

Many of the Old Testament prophets also strongly opposed Israel’s spiritual complacency and the social injustices they carried out in the land (Psalm 78:36-37; Isaiah 29:13; Jeremiah 12:2; Ezekiel 33:31; also refer to Matthew 15:8; Mark 7:6). For instance, God spoke through prophet Isaiah that The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught (Isaiah 29:13). Also, God spoke through prophet Jeremiah that Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things (Jeremiah 7:9-10). Prophet Amos also spoke strongly against Israel’s spiritual complacency and the social injustices they practiced during his lifetime. He urged his people to Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph (Amos 5:15). The Lord God, the God of their fathers, revealed to prophet Amos that His people worship Him but they also practice detestable things in the sight of God and others, which brings bad reputation for God’s name and His faithful followers (2:8; 4:5-6; 5:21-23; 8:5-7; also refers to 2 Kings 19:22; Ezekiel 36:20-23; Romans 2:24). Israel’s social injustices during prophet Amos’ time includes: trampling the poor as the dust of the ground (2:7), oppressing the poor and crushing the needy (4:1), imposing unjust taxes upon the poor and the impoverished (5:11), oppressing the innocent and taking bribes to deprive the poor in the courts (5:12), and stealing from the people in the marketplace (8:5), boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales (8:5); buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals (8:6); and so on.

Despite all our rebelliousness and unfaithfulness towards the Lord God, the Lord, who is holy and righteous and gracious and compassionate, invites everyone everywhere to repent and return to Him with all their heart and with fasting and weeping and mourning (Joel 2:12-13). Also, God spoke particularly to the priests and to all who minister before the altar to that … 

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. 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. Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty (Joel 1:13-15)

Also, prophet Joel continued his prophetic utterance elsewhere regarding declaring a holy fast among God’s people, saying:

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 (Joel 2:15-17a)

The Lord invites everyone to turn to Him and be saved, as God spoke through His prophet Isaiah: Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other (Isaiah 45:22). Thus, the promise of God to everyone is that if the people would forsake their sinful ways and turn from their wicked ways and seek the Lord God earnestly, He would have pity on them and forgive their sins, as it is mentioned in the Scripture: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Then the Lord will bless everyone who seeks Him earnestly and calls upon His name wholeheartedly, as prophet Joel stated:

Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed (Joel 2:23-27)

The Scripture states that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32a; Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13). After that the Lord God will pour out His Spirit on all people, as it is mentioned: And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days (Joel 2:28-29). Apostle Paul stated that all those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God (Romans 8:14). Thus, the Lord has given us privilege [right] to become His children (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:5; 1 John 3:1).Thereafter, He will be our God and we will be His people, as God said: They will be my people, and I will be their God (Jeremiah 32:38; also refer to 31:33; Leviticus 26:12; Ezekiel 11:20; 37:27; Zechariah 8:8; Hebrews 8:10; Revelation 21:3).

Dear friends, as we conclude this week’s SftW meditation, let us know the fact that the basic thing to do [or the first thing to do] to get salvation or to inherit the Kingdom of God or to receive God’s blessings upon us, or to be called the children of God or to escape from God’s wrath and punishment is to return to Him with all our heart and with fasting and weeping and mourning (Joel 2:12) and plead with Him for His mercy and compassion (Jeremiah 12:1a) and seek Him earnestly (1 Chronicles 16:11; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Zephaniah 2:3; Matthew 6:33). The Lord is faithful to fulfill all that He promised us (Numbers 23:19; Deuteronomy 7:9; Joshua 21:45; Psalm 145:13; Hebrews 10:23). The book of Job states that If you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be (Job 8:5-7). Therefore, let us return to Him with all our heart and with fasting and weeping and mourning and hold fast unto Him who is able to fulfill everything He promised to us. May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!