God Is In The Ruins

God is in the Ruins Joel 2:23-32

1. Joel the Prophet speaks to the people

• He speaks to a people who have lived through disaster.

• They’ve seen the crops fail. They’ve known hunger, loss and fear.

• He speaks to them he calls them to rejoice — because restoration is coming.

• Joel writes O children of Zion, be glad, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain[a] for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before.

2. Joel the prophet shares about The Locust Years was a God thing, A God sighting, a God movement

• Joel’s audience they had endured devastation. “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left the destroying locust has eaten” (Joel 1:4).

• Their crops had been in wiped out. Their land had been stripped bare. Their joy had been turned to mourning.

• In the midst of disaster The people believed

• The people of Israel understood that even this was a God thing.

• When locusts devoured their fields, it was a God thing.

• When drought gripped the land, it was a God thing.

• When enemy armies ravaged their towns, it was a God thing.

• They recognized that God wasn’t just in the restoration; God was also in the ruin.

3. God is in the presents of Ruins my mess broken nose hit hard I really thought I might die God was in my ruin

• We live in a world that tries to explain away hardship.

• We attribute our misfortune to disasters, natural causes, human error or bad luck.

• One theologian said, “Scripture tells us that God is sovereign over all things. Does this mean God causes suffering? Not necessarily. But it does mean God is present in it, working through it, and redeeming it for perhaps reasons known only to God. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

• God is in the ruins not just in the good things, but in all things.

4. When the ruins happen we need to live by faith.

• Habakkuk learned, we don’t just have faith in the good time but we have faith in the bad times to.

• Habakkuk said the just shall live by faith we trust God in the trials.

• When the rain doesn’t come, we still trust. When the locusts devour, we still believe.

• When hardships arise, we still hold onto faith.

5. Habakkuk believed in God in His ruins.

• Habakkuk wrote : Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food;

• though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls,

• yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will exult in the God of my salvation.

• God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

• Habakkuk had witnessed in horror and not a little terror unspeakable “wrongdoing … trouble … destruction and violence” (1:3).

• These hardships “are before me; strife and contention arise. So, the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous therefore judgement comes forth perverted” (1:3-4).

6. Joel encountered Locusts years, Habakkuk encountered ruins, Habakkuk believed Just should live by faith, he felt you should believe in God in the ruins.

• Although we have ruins we can experience peace in the storm (Philippians 4:7), . 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

• Although we encounter ruins we can find strength to keep going (2 Corinthians 12:9), . 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

• After our ruins we will look back and see how God carried us (Romans 8:28),

• We can discover purpose in our pain (James 1:2-4). 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything