Today’s passage: Joel 2:1-17
Helpful thoughts:
- The Day of the Lord is coming…soon…in the future. But the day to “tremble,” or the day to be prepared, is today (Verse 1).
- Verses 2-11 again depict this plague of locusts from chapter 1.
- They are like a darkness that spreads to the opposite effect of a sunrise.
- They are like fire that devours.
- They are like war horses that overpower whatever stands in their way.
- Verses 12-17 are a call to response concerning the truth of what’s to come. Whatever you’re doing, stop and turn to the Lord!
Questions to consider:
- When people want to go on a diet, they often determine the best day to start, is tomorrow. What fickle pleasures of “today” are prone to distract us from the truth of “tomorrow?” Why must we remember that today is the day of salvation? (2 Corinthians 6:2)
- When we meet natural disasters and calamities in our day, where do we turn for answers? Where does the western culture go to fix what it decides is broken? What was Israel’s greatest problem? Was it ever locusts? What is our greatest problem and who alone can “fix” it?
- How does the gospel of Jesus Christ give us contentment and peace even in the midst of this world’s calamities? Is our well-being defined by or under the control of our circumstances? (Philippians 4:11-13) How does this truth give us freedom from so many of this world’s concerns?