Cry Out To God

Verse 13-This verse is a call to repentance. Joel calls the religious leaders to lead the nation in repentance. He tells the priests to “put on their sackcloth” and prepare to do the work of repentance.

Verse 14- Joel tells them how to do the work of repentance (borrowed from enduring word commentaries):

-Consecrate a fast: Make getting right with God so important that even eating isn’t important
-Call a solemn assembly: Call for God’s people to come together and repent
-Gather the elders: The leaders of the people should make a special point to be part of the work of repentance
-Into the house of the Lord your God: Come to the place where you should meet together with God and cry out unto the Lord.
-Cry out to God: simply cry out to God and trust that He will respond in mercy

Verses 15-20:

“The sorrow of the people is turned into repentance and humiliation before God. With all the marks of sorrow and shame, sin must be confessed and bewailed. A day is to be appointed for this purpose; a day in which people must be kept from their common employments, that they may more closely attend God's services; and there is to be abstaining from meat and drink.” –Matthew Henry

The idea behind the phrase “the day of the Lord” is that it is God’s time. Man has his “day,” and the Lord has His day. God’s timing is PERFECT our timing is not! In the ultimate sense, the day of the Lord is fulfilled when Jesus judges the earth and returns in glory. In a lesser sense, a time of judgment as Judah experienced with the locusts and drought or when we are in need for God to intervene in a situation are also examples of the day of the Lord.

In this time of drought, all Judah could do was cry out to God. They were powerless to “fix” the drought problem. But, as always, God was faithful and sent them to a place where only heaven could help them, so they would look no other place.

“Their crying to God in those cases, shames the stupidity of those who cry not to God in any case” –Matthew Henry

Psalm 40:1- “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock making my steps secure.”

What an example David is in this Psalm! Far too often do I do the opposite of this. It is all over scripture to “cry out to God” for help in troubled times. How foolish of me to not do this at ALL times. Just as David did, we need to cry out to God for our help and strength. He is the ONLY source of strength in troubled times. He is the solid rock that will lead us to righteousness. How exciting it is that though we cannot do anything on our own strength, with Christ, we are strong!

“In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus was confronted with the problem of a disaster that killed 18 people. Instead of acting as if it were just an accident of blind fate, Jesus used it as a wake-up call for repentance. Jesus showed that “Why did this disaster happen to them?” is the wrong question. The right question is “Am I ready to face such a disaster in this fallen world?”

“The outcome of our lives in not determined by what happens to us but by how we respond to what happens to us.” –Nancy Leigh DeMoss