“The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. 2 Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. 4 What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten. 5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce lion. 7 He has laid waste My vine, and ruined My fig tree; he has stripped it bare and thrown it away; its branches are made white.” Joel 1:1-7 NKJV
Lord who speaks,
I cannot find an exact date for Joel. But in the NKJ chronological version he is placed here. At the time of the second Temple. He speaks of a day of the Lord in chapter 1 verse 15. Not The Day of the Lord. His initial concern was about a day of a plague of locusts. A plague, not just a swarm. In his day that meant ruin, famine and often death. He warns the people of Jerusalem, and sees it as a sign from You Lord. He calls the priests, on behalf of the people, to humble themselves and repent of sin. They should call a sacred assembly and cry out to You Father for mercy.
We may not always see disasters as Your judgement Lord or locusts as Your punishment. But Joel uses this opportunity to call people in situations they cannot control to come and humble themselves before You to ask for help. And he calls them not to come as if it is their right or as a show but to rend their hearts and not their garments ( Joel 2:13). To return to You their God, just as they are, so You may relent and leave a blessing (Joel 13-14).
Sometimes there is nothing else we can do but approach You God in the face of what we call natural and man made disasters. To rend our hearts and ask You to relent and leave a blessing. And where others suffer, to be Your hands and help where we can. Even if that means just giving money for medicine and aid to places we cannot reach.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Monday 28th September 2026
Joy Webb wrote this in 1978. I haven’t heard this for many years. It is timeless and almost always moves me to tears.
Come into our world, come into our world.
All around us, seemingly, darkness holds its sway;
Truth and love are faltering, peace in disarray;
And if we needed you, we need you now!
Come into our world,
Come into our world, come Lord Jesus.
Come into our world,
Come into our world, come
People sit in loneliness, children cry for bread;
Men fight men in hatred, by suspicion led;
And if we needed you, we need you now!
Come into our world,
Come into our world, now, Lord Jesus.
Come into our world,
Come into our world come.
Faced with such confusion, hope has slipped away;
Men have stopped believing, forgotten how to pray;
And if we needed you, we need you now!
Come into our world
Come into our world, now, Lord Jesus.
Words & Music: Joy Webb