|
"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."
(Joel 2:23)
"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."
(Joel 2:28)
This week we have seen how in the book of Joel, the Lord sends trouble to Israel and calls them to repent of their sin. Today, we will see what happens when the Lord relents as the people turn back to Him.
Go back and reread the verses for today from above. These two verses share an utterly amazing picture of restoration. In their sin, God sent locusts to Israel to get their attention and as a foreshadowing of his ultimate judgment of sin. It was a warning. He used the prophet Joel to call them to repent. What happens next is amazing. God doesn't leave Israel with the results of their disobedience and say, "Well, deal with it! It is your sin that caused this mess, you clean it up." Yes, there was hardship. Yes, there was even devastation. But when the people of God return to God with contrition, the Lord meets them with lovingkindness, and He miraculously restores what was lost.
First, He restores physically. The locusts desolated the land and the crop, but this dry land was transformed into lush abundance. Read Joel 2:18-27 to take in how the Lord restores the land. The Lord sends rain and restores what was lost to them outwardly. But He doesn't stop there. He goes on to also restore to them what was lost inwardly.
In verse 28, the Lord promises to pour out his Spirit. This promise and prophesy is certainly fulfilled later in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit comes to the early church, and Peter even quotes this verse at Pentecost. The Lord pours out His Spirit and restores the soul.
Sometimes, we too feel dry and desolate. Perhaps you can relate: you feel like the life has been sucked out of you and the soil of your heart is arid and parched. You are weary. You feel like giving up and don't see much hope on the horizon. Cry out to God. He can restore what is broken around you. He, likewise, can restore what is broken within you. If you feel spiritually dry, God can revive you. He can fill your emptiness, quench your thirst and heal what is broken.
|
Apple
Spotify
Deezer
YouTube
