Joel 2: 23-32
Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with with grain; the vats will over flow 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 amount 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 ashamed. 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 ashamed.
“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.
I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great day of the Lord. And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the lord calls.
A Thought
In the first chapter Joel compares locusts that have overrun the land of Judah with an army lead by God. Everything has been eaten in sight and Joel calls for the people to fast and to repent in sackcloth. Now Joel is sounding the trumpet that the day of the Lord is coming; proclaiming to rejoice that God will restore all that has been lost; God will pour out his Spirit on all people; God will save all who call on the name of the Lord; God will deliver Mount Zion and Jerusalem.
Our Prayer
Father thank you for you grace that you have provided in this day that we live. Send your Spirit to reveal salvation through Jesus Christ not only to your people Israel but for all who will call on your name that we may be saved from your judgement in the great day of the Lord. Our faith is in you; our only hope is found in repentance. Forgive us we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
