The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Joel 1:16-20,
"Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. 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."
Who is responsible for this destruction? Was it due to industrial carbon emissions? Fossil fuels? Automobiles not meeting federal environmental requirements? Someones arbitrary energy consumption restriction mandate being exceeded? Clearly the environment has been ravaged in Joel's day: the wild animals are panting, the land is destroyed, trees are destroyed. Could not the Green Movement have prevented this environmental disaster?
The comment introducing the description of this disaster tells it all: "For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty." Joel 1:15. We also see in Joel 2:12-13 the Lord's call for his people to return to him. This destruction that laid waste not only the prosperity and productivity of God's people but also the land, the trees, the wild animals, the entire ecosystem, was done by God himself because his people had turned from him!
Today, there exists a tension in what is often referred to as the "culture war". It is evidenced in the political movements of our day where positions are taken that divide people. One such movement in this culture war is the "Green Movement". It finds calamity, chaos and disaster awaiting us all just around the corner unless we all submit to its vast portfolio of political demands. An array of "experts" are produced that purport to have all the answers and if we would but give in to their demands, we will see the oceans lowered, climate patterns stabilized, the entire ecosystem brought into balanced and maintained in pristine fashion.
What does this have to do with Joel's prophecy? Just as folks in his day had abandoned God and gone their own way, so folks today have abandoned God and gone their own way. In an arrogant assumption mankind can maintain planet earth with a pristine environment for wildlife and mankind to flourish in, it is overlooked that we can't even run a postal system that works, let alone an ecosystem. Not coincidentally, this is the same crowd who view their opponents as those who, "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them." They view faith in God as opposition to their faith in mankind to bring order on planet earth.
The writer of Hebrews has an entirely different perspective on how planet earth is maintained, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." Hebrews 1:3. Paul tells us, "He [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians 1:15-17.
Mankind, in his arrogance and rejection of God, attempts to supplant him in every aspect of life. In his foolishness he even imagines himself capable of doing what only God can, not noticing his own miserable failure at the very basic issues in life that he should be able to maintain. Just look at the performance of our educational system, the divorce rate, the growing prison populations, etc. Any number of social ills could be listed here.
For God's part, what we see in Joel's day, as well as our day, is described in Psalm 2:1-6, "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains,' they say, 'and throw off their fetters.' The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 'I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.'"
The environment, our economy, our peaceful existence as a nation, all these things have little to do with our politics and strategies and a lot to do with God's blessings. Just a cursory understanding of the Old Testament attests to this. May we as a people never abandon our God!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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