December 9 - National Repentance
In the day of Joel, there was a massive locust plague and a severe drought in Judah, devastating the whole land. Joel saw that as the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he was calling for the nation of Judah to repentance. His message was simple: everyone in the country should repent, including the young and the old, the drunkards, the farmers and even the priests.
Joel began with a description of the locust invasion with different kinds of locusts: the cutting locusts, the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts and the destroying locusts. They were probably the same locusts but seen in different ways of destruction. The prophet did not see this as an accident or a co-incidence, it was because of the sin of the nation that the locusts had come. The only way to take care of it was not to kill all the locusts but to repent after the Lord.
So Joel called on the priests to put on sackcloth and gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord for a solemn assembly. They needed to cry out to the Lord in repentance. The Lord said, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” The only hope is to return to the Lord for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He would relent over disaster and leave a blessing behind.
When God’s people repented, God would restore everything that was lost in the locust plagues. He would send the former and latter rains so that there would be abundance. Then the Spirit of the Lord would pour down on all flesh with the accompanying signs. Old men would dream dreams and young people would see visions. Even on the male and female servants would be the outpouring of the Spirit.
When God’s people repented and their fortunes restored, the Spirit would pour down on the people. The end result was a big spiritual harvest: everyone who called on the name of the Lord would be saved. It all began with the day of the Lord brought in by the locusts and the Lord turned it around for the revival of the church.
Our nation needs to go into repentance. There are things that plague the whole country and God’s people must seek the Lord in solemn assemblies. There must be a crying out to the Lord on behalf of the nation for the plagues to go away and the losses be restored. Your prayer can open up the heavens for the Holy Spirit to pour down. The church will then be revived and the end time harvest will be brought in. This is the end time strategy of the Lord as given by the prophet Joel. Have you been praying for your country and God’s revival? Gather others to start praying now.
Ps 138:1-8 Joel 1:1-3:21 Rev 1:1-20 Prov 29:18