October 13

Joel 1
The road ahead looked like a thin cloud. As we approached it, we realized it was a cloud of grasshoppers. It was a 100+ degree August day in 1978. We were traveling east on the plains of eastern Colorado. Our ’72 Pinto had no air conditioning, and we had to roll up the windows to keep the grasshoppers from dive bombing through open windows. It lasted for miles and miles. Man it got hot inside! When the grasshopper plague finally eased up, the thought occurred to me that my radiator might be covered with smashed grasshoppers which would impede the cooling process for the engine. I pulled over. Sure enough, the radiator was covered in smashed grasshoppers. I did my best to brush the majority of them off without burning my hands. That was almost like a plague of “Biblical Proportions.”
The Locust in the Middle East have a 17 year cycle. My OT professor in seminary brought back a specimen that he had purchased in Israel. It was at least 4 inches long. They can be quite destructive at the peak of their cycle. Apparently, the peak that Joel speaks of was worse than the normal peaks. It killed everything. In an agrarian society a locust plague would be devastating. If it were nationwide, it would be crippling to the nation. The prophet calls upon the people to “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.” Sometimes plagues, famines, droughts, economic difficulty, relational difficulty, natural disasters are just the result of living in a fallen world. Sometimes God orchestrates them to get our attention. Always God wants us to turn to Him in the midst of them. Why? So that we will learn our need of holiness before a Holy God and that we will seek Him for it.
In the midst of those times we can call upon the Lord, and if there is repentance in our hearts, He will hear us. Is it time to call a sacred assembly? Do our lives individually and corporately seem to be covered with a cloud of locust. Do the grasshoppers seem to be dive bombing through the open windows of our lives. If we roll up the windows, do we feel like we are in an oven? Maybe the Lord is shouting at us, “Repent!”
“To you, O Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures.” Sounds like Oklahoma this past summer. The glory of the Lord in this is that we can call upon Him. He invites us to call upon Him. He is most amazing in his mercy! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john