“And the Lord utters His voice before His army, for His host is very great, and [they are] strong and powerful who execute [God’s] word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can endure it? Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn and keep on coming to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning [until every hindrance is removed and the broken fellowship is restored]. Rend your hearts and not your garments and return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness; and He revokes His sentence of evil [when His conditions are met].” Joel 2:11-13 ->me: I know I am calling out Joel here but this is because there are so many similarities between Joel 1 and 2 and Revelation 9. In Joel the locusts have ravaged the land and suffering is not only felt by every person but animals as well. What caught me again was God’s grace and mercy that is extended once again. Additionally, the way out of trouble is laid out here so well. I think of those in my life who are suffering from illness, death, loss of work, anxiety, etc. What I hear the Lord saying here is that even when things are terrible ‘also now’ -> ‘turn and KEEP ON coming to Me with ALL your heart’. Do this with fasting, weeping, and mourning (genuine sorrow in repentance) UNTIL every veil created by sin is removed and your relationship with Him is restored. When I let my heart break before Him and come humbly to Him, I will find His grace, mercy, patience, and loving kindness abundant for me. What an absolute gift this is from God; a vision of His love to me. It is hard to imagine that I can come daily to His feet after living every hour in this earthly body and He will be there to rescue me every time.
Our Family WordPress Blog