How to respond to devastation in our lives (Joel 1)
Joel 1:1-20
After the devastating Canterbury earthquakes,[1] life was disrupted for many. Some lost their homes with immediate effect, others tragically lost family members or came to be injured themselves, yet others had relatively minor inconveniences of not being able to use their bathrooms or drink water from the tap for a while. Several traditional church buildings built of bricks collapsed, so that Christian worship was also disrupted. More recently the Covid pandemic caused tragic loss for many and upset the normal routines of life everywhere. It is at times such as these that we are shaken out of our preoccupations and stopped in our tracks. While Christians can sometimes draw an unthinking connection between someone’s tragedy and their sins, the link is far from automatic or straightforward in the Bible.[2] Jesus’ admonition that we should not think of those experiencing tragedy as worse sinners but reflect instead on where our lives are going (Luke 13:1-5) is a more helpful perspective.
A wake-up call
Israel in Joel’s time was experiencing a locust plague (and perhaps a drought; Joel 1:4, 17, 20) on an unprecedented scale.[3] Devastation by locusts was not unusual, but this occurrence seemed to have been extraordinarily severe, a once-in-a-lifetime event that old-timers could not recall ever happening even in previous generations (Joel 1:2). It was indeed a wake-up call to all who were complacent, enjoying the comforts of life and becoming desensitised to its realities, much like drunks become oblivious to their surroundings and what is really happening to them (Joel 1:5). It is only when they sober up for lack of a drink that they have a chance to face the truth – an apt image of all of us whether our lack of awareness is caused by alcohol or simply the busyness of life and its demands on us.
Devastation: livelihood and worship
The two areas particularly impacted in Israel were livelihood and worship. In an agricultural context, a bad (or non-existent) harvest cut off the food supply for humans as well as their animals (Joel 1:16, 18) and afforded no backup for next year’s sowing or excess to pay for any other needs. Second, temple worship involved twice-daily animal sacrifices accompanied by grain, oil and wine offerings (Exod 29:38-42) so that the plague would have forced the priests to suspend temple worship altogether (Joel 1:9-10). We moderns might feel that sacrifices are unimportant, but for Israel, bringing gifts to meet the divine King and offering sacrifices for sins were essential parts of worship. We only need to think of our Covid lockdowns in comparison, when physical church meetings became impossible, the Lord’s Supper could not be served together, and the follow-up tea-coffee time after the service had to be scrapped for safety reasons. It was our modern equivalent of what feels so integral to our sense of worship and fellowship and we were lucky that Western technology made at least virtual meetings possible.
How to respond to devastation
What should be our response to devastating situations? The prophet’s answer is to gather as a community to fast, mourn and cry out to God (Joel 1:5, 8-9, 13-14). Our tendency to withdraw into ourselves when we experience loss is understandable, but the prophet points to a different way. There can be great encouragement in crying with others, grieving over what has been lost together. While practices such as wailing and wearing sackcloth are alien to Western culture, there may be something to be said for giving grief an expression and outlet,[4] even if we do so in ways that are more restrained. This could involve reading out a lament psalm in church together or praying for each other’s loss in smaller groups where people feel known and loved, and so on. Most importantly, Israel’s assembling before God was to cry out to the Lord. Such a gathering is an opportunity to assess what serving God means when worship in a business-as-usual way is no longer possible. Such an act of crying to God is also an expression of trust, a recognition that He is sovereign over what has happened and He is the only one who can truly help.
[1] For readers outside of New Zealand, the reference is to two earthquakes (Sep 2010 and Feb 2011) in the Canterbury region whose biggest city is Christchurch. The quakes affected the latter as well as smaller towns/settlements in the area. While New Zealand as a whole is earthquake-prone and there are building standards expected to mitigate the worst effects, the Canterbury quakes were particularly shocking because there were no known faultlines near Christchurch.
[2] It is true, of course, that in Israel’s history there is often a close connection made between Israel’s sin and the adverse events that are to befall them (e.g. Judg 2:11-15; 2 Kings 17:6-8). However, there are other examples where this is not the case. Thus, the story of Job makes it clear that disasters, personal losses or illness are not automatically God’s judgment on an individual’s sin. Job, in fact, is innocent and lives a godly life (Job 1:8). The account of Joseph’s sufferings and the affirmation that the Lord was with him despite having been sold into slavery and later thrown into prison (Gen 39:1-2, 20-21) also underline this point. The Psalms likewise portray godly people suffering illness and setbacks in life (e.g. Ps 26:1-5) while the wicked seemingly prosper (e.g. Ps 73:3-9).
[3] Some scholars argue that the locust plague in Joel 1 is a metaphor for an enemy invasion into Judah, such as Assyria’s in 701 BC or Babylon’s in 597/87 BC. However, Leslie C. Allen rightly observes that the locusts in the description act like locusts: ‘they ravage fields, trees, and fruit, but do not kill and plunder, or take prisoners of war.’ He also points out that ‘the restoration promised by Yahweh in 2:18-27 concerns the material damage associated with locust attacks.’ The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 29.
[4] It is interesting to observe how uncomfortable we are at showing negative emotions in public and external expressions of grief; witness our funerals these days, where black is increasingly not worn and where the tendency is to make memorial services into events of ‘celebration’.
If you enjoyed this post, please share it with others.