Rend Your Hearts…Not Your Garments
Joel 2:13
I started
reading Joel yesterday. In it the Prophet
pleads with Judah to turn back to God before the Day of the Lord arrives. In the last chapter (4:19) Joel pronounces
judgment on Egypt and Edom because of the violence perpetrated against
Judah. Lo and behold as I scanned the
headlines of today’s news I saw a Jihadist group named Mujahedeen Shoura Council claimed a
rocket attack in southern Israel today from you guessed it. Egypt.
(Click
Here For CBSNews Article)
Isn’t it interesting that scriptures written centuries
before the time of Christ are still being played out in the news today? With all that being said, my question is: “How
does Joel apply to us today?”
In Joel Chapter 1 , God warns Judah of
impending judgment, and there are five actions the people of Judah are told to
take:
2.) Lament (v.8)
3.) Be
Ashamed (v.11)
4.) Put
on Sackcloth (v.13)
5.) Consecrate
a Fast & Call a Solemn Assembly (v.14)
The
message for Christians today is the same message the people in Joel’s day
heard: Wake Up, Weep, Repent, and Seek
the Lord! Basically, Joel was pleading with
the religious leaders, the ‘elders’, to be honest about their sin, and do
whatever it took to be in a right relationship with God. Wouldn’t it be smart for us to do the
same. The Day of the Lord is drawing
near.
aj
