instead, on a cure.
Joel urged the priests to call a nationwide day of prayer and fasting to lead the people back to God. Then God would roll back the damage done by the locusts, and more: "You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you" (2:26). They would emerge from the experience with new, durable confidence in God's love. So it has often proved for God's people: a disaster has pressed them to a deeper relationship with him.
God's Bigger Plans
Though the locust plague was by far the worst Joel had ever heard of (1:2-3), no historical record of this particular invasion has endured, other than the one Joel left us. The truth is, even the worst natural disasters fade from memory. Joel wanted the disaster to turn people's attention toward something more lasting - to an eternal God.
Joel wanted God's people to believe that God controlled the locusts, and even more importantly, that God shaped the entire course of history to his plan. As terribly as the locusts had destroyed, and as wonderfully as God had rolled back their destruction, these events only foreshadowed far more terrible and wonderful things. Joel saw that God's Spirit would transform his people into those who love him constantly, not just when a disaster catches their attention. After a time of terrible judgment, God would create a renewed, secure city for his people, in which he himself would live. |
