Throughout the prophets (the writings in the Old Testament of the Bible, by prophets.) You hear the prophets warn Israel of coming judgment. Often, it is with sadness and even exasperation that God is appealing to the people of Israel to turn their hearts back to Him.
We see this in the book of Joel.
Joel 2:1
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
Joel goes on to warn of a great, dreadful day. He describes the utter destruction of the land with innumerable locusts who devour anything and everything, and anything they leave behind is eaten by other locusts and so on.
Joel 2:11
The day of the Lord is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
Joel 2:31
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
We have this impossible, looming, and impending doom.
But why is God telling us this through the prophets? Why not just bring the judgment? If they have sinned against God, why doesn’t He just smite them and be over with it?
We see in Joel 2:12-13
Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
God is sending all of the prophets because He loves and wants to forgive. He desires to bless and not bring justice.
He doesn’t want to punish. God is calling out to those long ago, and He is calling today for us to hear.
Joel 2:32
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved;
Even today, all those who call on Him will be saved. Let us rend our hearts and return to our gracious God who is full of compassion. May we heed the warnings of the prophets, not so we can predict the future, but so we can be in a right relationship with God.
Thank you, God, for your warnings to us. Thank you that you love so much that you don’t just bring our deserved judgment, but you appeal to us to come to you and turn our lives and hearts to you, the living God. The God of compassion.
