1) INTRODUCTION
a) When I was a young child, my grandparents had a farm in central NY. This farm was way up on a hill and even though my grandfather didn’t do a whole lot of farming, I remember that the fields at the farm seemed endless in the scope of my childhood world.
b) The high grass that surrounded the farm house was a favorite place for us to run and play and roll in the grass.
c) One of the things that we loved to do while playing in the fields was to catch grasshoppers…they would jump and fly around, but if you were quick enough, you could catch one or two and hold them in your hand.
d) I remember looking very carefully at the grasshoppers I caught, studying their eyes and legs and wings and heads…and I remember that they were REALLY UGLY!
e) It wasn’t long before we would release them and run after another one…it seemed to me like they were everywhere!
f) In the Bible, there are lots of stories about grasshoppers…usually called locusts (which are just a subcategory of grasshoppers)…maybe the most famous is the plague of locusts that God sent to Egypt in Exodus 10 when Pharaoh refused to allow the Jewish people to leave…in that story, the locusts did immense damage to the country, the crops, the food supply…the point of God sending the locusts was not necessarily to punish the people, but to punish Pharaoh for his disobedience. For the Jewish people, it wasn’t about the locusts at all…it was about freedom…
g) Another story of a plague of locusts is told in the book of Joel. Joel was a prophet of Yahweh…a prophet to the Jewish people…
h) Now, the first part of the book of Joel, tells us about a plague of locusts...and the destruction that overtakes everything…
i) Joel then uses the imagery of the plague to warn the people of God’s judgment coming in the form of foreign invaders. The plague of locusts is a metaphor for the foreign invaders…something that the people would remember and fear.
j) And God sometimes used foreign invaders to pass judgment on his unfaithful and unrepentant people…(2:1-11)
k) This sets the stage for Joel to call the people of Israel to repentance…(2:12-17)
l) And then in our scripture for this Thanksgiving Worship…Joel tells the people about a dialogue he had with God…a message for the people…a message of salvation.
m) Even in this story…it’s not about the locusts…
2) SCRIPTURE – Joel 2:21-27
a) Through all of the locusts and all of the destruction, God had mercy once again on his people…
b) In verse 18 of chapter 2, Joel tells us that God became jealous for his land, and took pity on his people…and then he sends in the Red Cross, with food and wine and oil, and promises to never again make them the object of scorn for the nations that are attacking them…
c) And at the end of verse 20, Joel says these words…”Surely he (God) has done great things.”
d) Let’s pick up our reading in vs. 21…Read Joel 2:21-27
e) Joel tells us that God said that the land should not be afraid…God said the animals should not be afraid…and he said that the people of Zion should not be afraid…rejoice in the Lord your God…
f) But why?
g) Look in verse 23…for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness
h) ‘In righteousness’ here means in fulfillment of the covenant God made with the people. God is doing this because he said he would…he is righteous…
i) What else? Those showers will be abundant…and not just in the fall but in the spring too.
j) And the threshing floors will be filled with grain and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil…the cupboards will be filled and you will have enough!
k) Not only that, but God will give you more to make up for the years the locusts ate all your food…and you will have plenty to eat…
l) And you will praise the name of the Lord your God who has worked wonders for you. Never again will my people be shamed.
m) Yeah God! Yeah Israel!
3) It’s Not About the Locusts
a) But wait! The whole beginning of the book of Joel is about the destruction that God is calling down from locusts and foreign invaders…and then we quickly shift from that to God pouring out his blessings on the people and promising that he would never again shame them…
b) What’s the deal? What happened that change God’s mind…
c) Well, we get a clue in verse 2:12 when God asks the people, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning…”
d) It wasn’t the locusts that scared them back to God…it wasn’t the foreign invaders that scared them back to God…
e) It was God’s promise of forgiveness after they repented that drew them back to God, and allowed them to give thanks and rejoice that God had not destroyed them like he should have…
f) And because God is righteous, he would heal the land, heal the animals, and provide for his people…thanks be to God…
4) US
a) I think back on those days I spent at the farm…such innocence…all was right with the world…
b) Unfortunately, things are not always so innocent and perfect in our lives…
c) Those grasshoppers of my youth, have, at times, become the plague of locusts that destroy my relationships…destroy my thoughts…destroy my attitude…cause me to sin…
d) Like the Israelite people, we can visualize the painful days in our lives… we relive the sting of bad decisions in our lives…we can feel the disappointment of losing a child at birth or the death of a parent…there’s anguish when we think about the sin that led to our words of hurt…losing s job…anger…depression…these are the swarms of locusts that we remember. Even when the forgiveness comes…we will always remember…
e) Now, some of those things are out of our control…some of them are natural occurrences…
f) The prophet Joel reminded the people of the plague that had done so much damage…that was so traumatic…
g) And he looked them in the face and said…God will judge us and it will be like that plague…it will destroy us…if we don’t wake up and repent and claim the promise that God has given to us…
h) And because we are Christians who claim that our ultimate hope for this life…this sometimes complicated life that can tear us down…is Jesus Christ…we have all the promise we need…
i) In fact, we have more of a promise from God than Joel ever had…we have Jesus, a living and intimate God-in-flesh that is praying for us…we have a Holy Spirit that is guiding us…we have a loving Father who provides for our needs and protects us…
j) It’s not about the locusts…
k) And when we get so caught up in our busyness, and our strife, and our kids are misbehaving, and our job stinks, and our family is lost, and our school is closing, and our lives are too much…when we get distracted by Satan into thinking that the next life would be better than this one, we forget the promise…we focus on the locusts and not on God’s ultimate promise that WE WILL HAVE ALL OUR NEEDS MET.
l) And not only that, but because OUR needs are met…we can rise up from our chairs…stand in the gap of our churches and our communities and our schools and our jobs and our families and TELL OTHERS ABOUT JESUS…OUR HOPE AND OUR SALVATION.
m) We can GIVE THANKS for all that God is doing in our churches…in our families…in our schools…in our community…
n) Did you know that the village is organizing a Christmas on Main St. celebration again this year? And did you know that I got a phone call from the leader of that group ASKING THE CHURCHES to be involved? When I asked if we could re-enact the Christmas story…the answer was YES…When I asked if we could do that on Main St. where hundreds of people would be waiting to see Santa…the answer was Yes. When I asked if we could have Mary and Joseph in the parade…the answer was Yes.
o) The Gospel Message of hope in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel will be heard loud and clear for this entire community on Main St. on December 10th…Praise God…Thank You Lord!
p) It’s not about the locusts…it’s not about the barriers…it’s about what God is doing here and now and tomorrow that we give thanks this week.
q) God didn’t send Jesus to earth to remind the Jewish people of the locusts in their past…it’s not about the guilt and shame anymore…
r) God sent Jesus to live among us so that we could be saved from the penalty of the judgment that is to come…
s) Our neighbors need to hear that…our churches need to live that…and we each need to understand that it’s not about the locusts…it’s about the Lord.
t) As we come to the table this evening, don’t shy away from remembering all that God has done in your life…remember that God takes away the locusts in your life when you come to him in repentance…
u) Happy Thanksgiving! Praise be to our Savior Jesus Christ!
v) Let’s pray…
