“Prepare!”

Scripture: Joel 2:12-18

Lent, the season of preparation for Easter, has begun. It is a time to consider our walk in faith, to acknowledge our shortcomings – to confess those ways that we know as sin, and to turn away from the destructive ways of earth and back to the true and eternal ways of the Lord. But for many, these 6 weeks of Lent have little, if any, significance. Life goes on just as it always has, without any intention, or even desire, to make changes in those things we do or in our attitudes for doing them.

Lent should be a time for change. But before changing, we need to discover just what it is that we need to let go of, and what needs to fill its void. The prophets were all about calling Israel, and the Church, back to Godly ways when they, and we, have strayed too far from the Lord’s way. So let’s see what Joel has to tell us about the what’s and why’s of the changes that we need to make.

Read Joel 2:12-14

Israel had strayed from the Lord’s ways. They had become prosperous in life, and worldly wealth nearly always leads us into complacency in faith. Comfort in our physical life gives us confidence in our own abilities and desires, and we begin to take God for granted - he takes a back seat in our life’s journey when we should be inviting him to take the lead.
And when we decide to reclaim authority for our own lives – a responsibility that should rightly remain with our Lord - not only will our life suffer, but so will our faith. In Israel’s case, it resulted in trading trust in their great Jehovah, for allegiance to the false promises of idols. And whenever we look to the gods of earth for leadership, sin takes control, and it gains power over us, whether we realize that it has or not. We have unwittingly relinquished our hope for eternity, in favor of the earth’s finality.

And so, Joel calls the people to return to the Lord with all their heart, and to show him that they are prepared to mend their ways. For the ancient Hebrews, the heart was the source of intellect, it held the wisdom and will that helped them to make right decisions. In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the people were called to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”, and while today we would think that this means they were to love in an emotional and passionate way, God was calling them to love him through their will and decision to return and love.

But the prophet doesn’t leave them to their own understand of how to give the Lord that kind of love – he tells them to tear their heart instead of tearing their clothes. Before you think that this sounds rather brutal, the command is more in line with “Change your entire approach to worship – truly love the Lord, and stop just going through the motions!” And then Joel gives them the reason that they should make these changes in their lives – it’s because God truly loves them, in a way and depth as only the Creator can love his creation.

This is the Lord’s nature – he is kind, generous, and considerate – he puts the needs of his people first. He hates anger, and will never let that emotion control him. As a matter of fact, love is his greatest desire, and it holds wrath, revenge, and punishment in check. And the promise remains intact: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.” (Exodus 6:7)

Read Joel 2:15-16

For Israel, the sound of the trumpet was normally a call to battle, but here, it is a call to worship. The nation would be called to war because of some a great threat that was coming against their lives, but now, this threat wasn’t coming from other nations – now it was festering and spreading from the inside out, and it was far greater than anything that the world could throw at them.

The call begins with fasting – a means of focusing the heart on God. Psalm 69:10 tells us that we are humbled when we fast; Isaiah 58:4 implies that honest and forthright fasting is intended to make our voice heard by God, and, conversely, not by the world; Daniel 9:3 says that fasting is a sign of supplication – a time of preparing to offer our requests and petitions to God; and Zechariah 8:18-19 reminds us that fasting should be approached in joy, and not out of obligation.

So they are to begin this “preparation for worship” with all that fasting would imply. Then, and only then, are they to be called to worship. And who is to come? Everyone - the elders, men and women, the children, and even the infants are to come – EVERYONE!

And when the lives are prepared, God (the “bridegroom”) will come to the people, and the people (the “bride”) will be ready to receive his love.

Read Joel 2:17-18

Three petitions:

First, the priests are to call upon the Lord for his great benevolence. They are to “weep” before the Lord, showing the great sorrow that Israel had over their sinful ways. And they are to cry out “Spare us, Lord” – a plea for forgiveness.

Second, a petition is offered to Jehovah that he never forget his covenant with Israel. They are the people of God, and the inheritance of heaven. The Lord is being asked to keep the nation right in his eyes, that he might never reject them.

Third, the priests remind Jehovah that without his forgiveness, without his righteousness, without his salvation for the people, his word will be broken, and the people of earth will never trust him.

And if all of this transpires - if the people reject the ways of earth, if they honestly prepare their lives to receive the Lord, if they repent of their sin, if they come to their God joyfully, humbly, and honestly, they will be forgiven, and received, and rejoiced over by their covenantal God.

And that is what our Lent should be about. Why? When we consider just what our Lord Jesus has done for each of us, from his leaving glory and praise behind so that he might come to us, to be our teacher, to be the fulfillment of all that God’s Law should be for us and to reinforce the words that Joel and all of the other prophets brought to the world, to not only call us to righteous living but to show us what that way of life means, to not only be our forgiveness, but to also be the sacrifice that our sins demand, to give himself entirely, that we might know the love of God through everything he did and said and gained for us.

Jesus, the God of heaven and earth, “changed” into a flesh and blood man, so that he could come to live and feel and struggle and love with each of us. And all that is asked of us in return, is to trust his words, to accept his commandments, and follow him throughout this life and into the next. But before we can do that, we have to empty ourselves of the lies of earth, and make room for the ways of our divine bridegroom. We need to embrace the change he calls us to make, if we have any intention of ever living as his disciple.

May this Lent be that time of change in your and my life, and may the glory of God be ours today.