Book of Joel Chapter 1: 13 through 20– Lamentation and Desolation
A Call to Lamentation
The Prophet Joel is considered a minor Prophet, yet minor does not infer that Joel’s message to Israel was of less importance. The nation of Israel is being judged, and the prophet has been sent to warn the people. Joel speaks to everyone, from the ministers of GOD to the workers in the field. This famine is a wake up call; a trumpet in Zion to sound the alarm. If there is no one to heed the words of the prophet, destruction is nearby. Read the entire Book of Joel, but for now observe how similar the circumstances in these verses are similar to what we face as a nation today. Charlene
13 Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;
call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
and all who live in the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for that day!
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
16 Has not the food been cut off
before our very eyes—
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 The seeds are shriveled
beneath the clods.
The storehouses are in ruins,
the granaries have been broken down,
for the grain has dried up.
18 How the cattle moan!
The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;
even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 To you, Lord, I call,
for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness
and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals pant for you;
the streams of water have dried up
and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.