Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.

Read

Joel 2:23-32 (NRSV)

O children of Zion, be glad
and rejoice in the LORD your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the later rain, as before.
The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent against you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

Reflect

Joel was a prophet following the Babylonian exile and during the time of the second Temple. As a prophet, he was responsible for proclaiming God’s word of judgment to the people. But, again as a prophet, he was also responsible for proclaiming God’s word of promise and hope. An elderly African-American pastor once said to me, “Never ever let God’s people leave the sanctuary without having given them God’s word of hope.”

Today’s text is just such a word of hope. The first chapter of Joel, and parts of the second, make for daunting reading. We read about the terrible plague of locusts and the coming Day of the Lord. But our text is like the sunshine breaking through the clouds. It is a marvelous statement of hope. God will save God’s people. The Spirit will be poured out on all flesh. Sons and daughters will prophesy. Old men will dream dreams and young men will see visions.

We are living through a time of profound social, cultural, religious, and institutional transition. Such a time can fill us with anxiety and fear. It is possible to lose hope. But never ever forget that we have been given the gospel. We have been given good news.

I was blessed to witness the living hope of the gospel in the lives of those who gathered this past summer in the Program of Alternate Studies. The students were dreamers of dreams, seers of visions, and upon them the Spirit was being poured out.

Pray

Spirit of the Living God, continue to pour out your Spirit on your people everywhere in the world. Enable us to bring your word of hope to our broken communities and world. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Go with God.