Joel 1:19 O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field
My mom grew up in the home of a fourth, fifth or even sixth generation farmer. John and Hulda Bingham moved from their farm in Illinois to the Dakota Territory in the 1860s, lived in a sod house, and scratched out a farm in a new land. Then George Bingham took the farm, then my grandpa, Robert Bingham, took the farm, and there are Binghams yet today in South Dakota farming that ground.
My grandparents left South Dakota in the late 1930s after some horrendous dust storms. I have seen pictures of Grandpa and Grandma standing in front of a tree that should have been well above their heads but was much shorter because the dust had blown up all around the tree and covered the land that once had been cropland. That calamity turned them to a different state. Eventually they moved to Minnesota, then to Colorado where my mom was born and reared.
Whatever the case, if you are a farmer and you find destruction taking over your farm and ruining your corps, you are going to look for help. You are going to look to something or someone. In my grandpa’s case, he looked west to Colorado.
In Joel’s case, he is talking about a great devastation to the farms of the people of Israel. There had been a locust attack. Maybe you have seen a picture of a piece of ground before and after a locust swarm. One locust is not a problem, but an army of them can be devastating indeed. So, Joel is encouraging God’s people to look at this example of destruction and look at the bigger picture, to look at God’s judgment on sin and what is to come. The lesson of Joel 1 might be that calamity should turn us to God.
Verse 14 says, “Cry unto the LORD.” In verse 19 he says, “O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.” He didn’t look to Egypt or some other world power. He looked to God Jehovah. Calamity should turn us to God. Does that happen in your life? Many times, we face calamity and it doesn’t turn us to God but from God. It doesn’t make us better; it makes us bitter. Calamity is something that should turn us to God.
That is true of each generation. The first three verses of Joel talk about all the generations of people who should call upon God Jehovah. Verses 1-2 say, “The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear.” He asks, “Have you ever seen anything like this is your lives? Have you ever seen such devastation?” Often you talk to old men and they recall times that were bigger, better, greater or whatever, and God says, “Have you ever seen a greater destruction than the one you see right now?” Verse 3 says, “Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.” He says, “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten.” There was nothing left. So, every generation is called upon to consider what was happening and the bigger picture. You may be a parent, grandparent, or child, it does not matter. Calamity should turn you to God.
There are various times of our life when that is easier to do than others. Sometimes when we are young, we think we have the whole world and the future ahead of us. Sometimes when we are older, we become jaded and don’t turn to God. Every generation should turn to God when there are calamities in life.
Every station should do this. In verse 5 he says, “Awake, ye drunkards, and weep.” Verse 8 says, “Lament like a virgin.” Verse 11 says, “Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen: O ye vinedressers…because the harvest of the field is perished.” Verse 13 says, “Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: and howl.” What are they to do? They are to turn to God. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, a farmer or a priest. Calamity should turn us to God.
God is called two things. He is called “your God” in verse 13 and “Almighty” in verse 15. How wonderful that the Almighty God who made the locusts, the crops, and me and who spoke the world into existence is my God. Regardless of what has come into your life today, it is wonderful to know there is a God who created this universe and who is also personally your God. So, when times are difficult and unexplainable, it is time to turn to God Almighty because calamity should turn us to God.