Wednesday, December 19
Joel 2:28-32
Like
Isaiah, Joel was also a prophet of God.
The prophet’s first step toward humility is to speak only God’s words
and not his own. John 7:18 says, “He who speaks on his own, does so to gain
honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him, is a
man of truth; there is nothing false about him.” We don’t know much about this man, only that
he spoke God’s word and not his own.
The book of
Joel follows God’s people from devastation to blessing. The Scripture reference for today points to
the blessing that God has promised His people.
He promises to pour out His spirit on His people and that all who call
on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(vs. 32) Wow! Maybe we should just stop here. We are living in the midst of a nation that
right now is calling for God to bless it.
Does this mean that all who are calling for His blessing will be saved? We need to look at the promise in the context
of the rest of the book. We must rely on
God’s words only and not our own. The
key is the word afterward in verse 28.
After what????
It isn’t
just a matter of asking God to bless us or calling on Him because we are in
trouble. In Joel 2:12-13, God asks for a
rending of our hearts before Him and not just our garments. In Old Testament times, the rending or
tearing of the garment was an outward sign of anguish or mourning. But God is asking us to rend our hearts
before Him. In other words, if our
anguish before Him is only on the surface, only an outward sign, it means
nothing. God looks at the heart.
Through
Joel, God is asking for a people who will not just be upset about what is going
on around them, but by what is going on in them. He calls for us to return to Him in humility
and repentance, weeping and mourning over our own sin and separation from
Him. Rending our hearts!
Imagine how
God’s own heart must have been torn apart to see His holy Son leave the glory
of heaven to be born in a humble stable, and even more so, as He watched Him
suffer and die because of our sins.
Lord, we
thank you that you have shown us the means to salvation. We give you our hearts rent in repentance
before you, trusting that you will make them whole again through the blood of
your own Son. Amen.
~Karen Simcik