Joel 1:16
Has not food been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and joy from the house of our God?
The great drought has caused the harvest to fail and rendered the farmers’ work useless.
The “joie de vivre”, the joy of life is gone; people’s eyes are dull and listless.
In all that, the prophet sees the finger of God.
In this he is further than many today, who neither in prosperity nor in adversity detects anything of God’s hand.
We must therefore ask for eyes, so that we may see.
And that we may humble ourselves before God.
▪︎ Did you have something to eat today?
▪︎ Was there still shortage on things that are necessary for life?
▪︎ Let us, then, in the way of true faith, ascend to God and pour out our hearts before Him.
Be it to thank Him for His good care,
Be it to pray to Him for what you lacked.
Do this so that we may know the Lord, and have Him to be a part of us in Christ.
The second part of the above text, may seem a little strange, but that is because of what preceded it.
So, after raising the issue of eating and drinking, the prophet now addresses the service in the house of the Lord.
And what was missing there, turns out to be the joy. And that is bad.
When serving the Lord no longer brings joy to the heart;
if… just put it at this time,
▪︎ When people, and young people, go to church listless
▪︎ When the people, and also the young people, listlessly sing, or even don’t sing the Psalms;
▪︎ When the people, and young people, no longer love mission and evangelism.
Then the question arises: But how can that be?
Could it be because of this: That things are not right between God and us?
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