*Scripture: Joel 2:1-17 (NKJV)* 1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand: 2 A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. 3 A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. 4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run. 5 With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. 6 Before them the people writhe in pain; All faces are drained of color. 7 They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; Every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. 8 They do not push one another; Every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. 9 They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; They climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. 10 The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. 11 The LORD gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?
12 "Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him—a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. 17 Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'" *Devotion* The nature of the "army" of locusts that afflicts the nation becomes clearer as we continue to hear the Word of the Lord. Already in the first chapter one can readily understand that the "locusts" were something more terrible in their devastating effects than the affliction of the devouring swarms that periodically plagued the people. We read in Joel 1:6, "For a nation has come up against My land…"” Now the prophet records: "A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations." Though they devour like the locust, consuming everything, the invading army is something more terrible as it serves as the chastening rod of the Lord. The words of today's reading should seem familiar, for a portion of them are used during the Church Year as the Epistle reading for Ash Wednesday. The call to repentance comes to the Church throughout the generations; affliction—whether from men or from 'nature'—all must serve the Lord as an opportunity for God's people to repent. The priests appeal to the mercy of the Lord for deliverance of God's people from the might of the nations: "Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, 'Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, "Where is their God?"'"
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