“Even now-- this is the LORD's declaration-- turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and He relents from sending disaster.”
~Joel 2:12-14 HCSB
Joel was pleading with the people of Judah after a series of disasters, locust and drought. The nation was suffering and Joel was warning the people to turn back to the Lord, that it wasn’t too late. The people had abandoned God and had turned to false gods and idols. Joel believed the plague and drought was God disciplining the people. It’s hard not to see parallels in our own country. We like to dismiss disasters and say a loving God would never allow such a thing, but is that true?
Our nation has been the greatest nation on earth. We have experienced unquestioned military might. We have the most powerful force to ever walk the planet. Our nation has been blessed with incredible wealth and economic prosperity. No one comes close to what we have. Americans pride themselves for being free and independent. Americans work hard and are industrious as a nation. We built this nation around a belief in God. We acknowledged Him in our constitutions, both the national and states. People lived lives with God in mind and regardless if you believed in God or not you followed biblical principles because a majority of the people around you followed them. Charity, forgiveness, doing right, keeping your word, caring for others, doing your best, and blessing others with your blessings was the way most people lived. People lived in a spirit of thanksgiving, in fact we created a national holiday for it!
But something has happened in our nation. People have turned and have gone their own way. We are so focused now on ourselves and our own wants we have forgotten our needs. We have abandoned our elderly to the state. We have turned abortion, the killing of innocent life into an industry for profit. We enroll our kids in sports leagues instead of church and are surprised our children are committing suicide at alarming rates because of depression. We have lost our way in our idols of greed, gluttony, addictions and self. I could go on but I think you can see my point. Why wouldn’t God allow disaster happen in the hopes of this people would turn back to Him? Would a loving God allow a people to continue to destroy themselves? Or would He allow disaster to happen in the hopes of people realizing they have abandoned their God and turn back to Him and repent of their sin. We need to weep for what we have become, we need to tear our hearts and ask a compassionate God to forgive us and to restore us.
Lord forgive us! Lord I weep for our nation and for what has happened to us. I pray for your spirit to pour out on us and we would turn to you with our whole hearts. Please Lord, come quickly! Amen
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