Joel 1-3 (My Message Was Written During Covid)

Hundreds of billions of locusts are swarming through parts of East Africa and South Asia in the worst infestation for a quarter of a century, threatening crops and livelihoods. https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-51618188

The Devastation of Locusts

1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

2 Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land.

Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days?

3 Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons,

And their sons the next generation.

WE’LL BE TALKING ABOUT THIS FOR YEARS.

4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;

And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;

And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

5 Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers,

On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth.

RESTAURANTS AND BARS ARE CLOSED. ONLY TO GO ORDERS.

6 For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number;

Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness.

7 It has made my vine a waste And my fig tree splinters.

It has stripped them bare and cast them away; Their branches have become white.

8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth.

9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

From the house of the LORD. The priests mourn, The ministers of the LORD.

10 The field is ruined, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined,

The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails.

SOME PEOPLE ARE BUYING TOO MUCH MILK ETC WHICH WILL ROT.

STOCK MARKET HAS THE BIGGEST WEEKLY LOSS SINCE 2008 (WSJ.COM)

11 Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley;

Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

12 The vine dries up And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up from the sons of men.

13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests;

Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth

O ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering

Are withheld from the house of your God.

MANY PASTORS ARE HAVING TO LEARN HOW TO BROADCAST ONLINE.

Starvation and Drought

14 Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD.

WE MAY NEED TO FAST TO HELP THE CORONA VIRUS GO AWAY.

15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

16 Has not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God?

I’VE SEEN EMPTY SHELVES IN STORES. I CAN’T FIND EGGS.

17 The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate,

The barns are torn down, For the grain is dried up.

18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly

Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

19 To You, O LORD, I cry; For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness

And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

20 Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up

And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

The Terrible Visitation

2:1 Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!

THIS WAS A FAMOUS SONG IN THE 80s.

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming;

Surely it is near,

2 A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness.

As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people;

There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it

To the years of many generations.

3 A fire consumes before them And behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them.

4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they run.

5 With a noise as of chariots They leap on the tops of the mountains,

Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble,

Like a mighty people arranged for battle.

6 Before them the people are in anguish; All faces turn pale.