Devotion for Wednesday 6 October
Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of the Prophet Joel, Chapter Two verse Thirteen, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing,” (NRSVB). The traditional, suggested date that many Old Testament scholars believe the Prophet Joel prophesied, is given as Eight Hundred and Thirty Before Christ. It is based on the historic timeline of a great locust plague, which correspondence with this date, as well as the Prophet Amos alluding to knowledge of the Book of Joel’s prophecies. The locust plague was seen by the prophet as being a call to return to the Lord, before something more devastating as these plagues will occur. Joel called on the people to repent and confess, wearing sack-cloth, coming before God with fasting and prayers, denouncing back-sliding from the commandment of the Lord. He prophesies that God is a God, who is unlike humans. He restrains his anger, and waits for the people of his covenant to return to him, he removes the punishment that are being endured and reverses the lot of those who confess to him. We read in Chapter Two verse Twenty Five, “And I, the Lord, will restore and replace the years that the locust has eaten,” (Amplified Bible). In many parts of Africa the devastating power of the armies of locusts, through the ages, have stripped the lands of food and caused famine amongst the people. Nations were unable to destroy this plague as they flew, crawled and hopped across borders, devouring everything in their way. God promises that through his mighty power and his compassion on the people and on the land, he will do great things again, and will restore the crops and give food to the nations.
When God goes to work to set thing right, the spiritual devastation, as well as the physical destruction of the lands and towns, will all be addressed. God will pour out his spirit on all the people and there will be a new understanding of God’s love, justice and his patient compassion. God promises that all who will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. There will be a time when all shall know and understand that God is the Lord God, the one who commands the sun, the moon and the stars, even the armies of locusts, and they obey him. We read in Joel, Chapter One verse Four, “What the crawling locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten; what the hopping locust left, the stripping locust has eaten,” (Amplified Bible). God promises that no invading army, whether they have the power of the armies of locusts, will have the power to destroy the plans and purposes of God. Despite the great tragedies that happen in the world, the plagues and wars, and natural disasters, God is working at changing the plight of those who mourn, on behalf of all, who repent and call on him. Those who call and wait on the Lord will not be ashamed, they will experience God’s salvation.
In the history of the world, through all the ages, God has been a very present help in trouble, a sure Rock and Refuge. He has delivered, helped and saved us up to now, he will not leave us nor forsake us. The Apostle Paul wrote to the congregations in his First Letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter Five verses Nine to Ten, “God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through Jesus Christ, who died for us,” (NRSVB). The difficulties suffered in the world we live in, are not sent to us as punishment, neither out of the wrath of God. The hero of faith, Job, learned when he was overwhelmed with terrible losses and called out regarding his pain, that God did not leave him to suffer, nor did God fail to intervene. Through his suffering he learned more about God’s compassion and his faith grew, and ultimately he was restored to health and the years that the locust ate were replaced with new blessings. Those years that we lament, the years that we have lost, whether we loss faith or hope, whether we loss our health, whatever we have lost, God knows that we are dust people, and he forgives, and he restores. He does not act towards us in anger, but with compassion, he understands when we stumble. He comes to lift us up, to renew our faith and to give us new hope as he works to restore what we have lost.
Father, we come to you and thank you that you act to us out of loving-kindness and compassion. You understand us, the creatures that you have made. You know that we doubt and stumble, but you came, and redeemed us. You lift us up daily, out of the miry clay, and restore us to glory, Amen.
