Are we inviting the Locusts?

Joel 1:13-14 (MSG)And also you priests, put on your robes and join the outcry.
You who lead people in worship, lead them in lament.
Spend the night dressed in gunnysacks, you servants of my God.
Nothing’s going on in the place of worship, no offerings, no prayers—nothing.
Declare a holy fast, call a special meeting, get the leaders together,
Round up everyone in the country.Get them into God’s Sanctuary for serious prayer to God.

Joel was a prophet in the Southern Kingdom of Judah during the period of the Divided Kingdom (930-722 BC). Verses 13 and 14 are a call to repentance during a time in the Nation of Judah when the country was being ravaged by locusts.

What the chewing locust left, the gobbling locust ate;
What the gobbling locust left, the munching locust ate;
What the munching locust left, the chomping locust ate. (Joel 1:7 MSG)

Joel was warning the people that God was not happy with their sinful ways, but said there was hope for them if they would turn from their ways and repent and change. We have seen this over and over again. Read the stories from the other Minor Prophets like Jonah or Hosea. Each of these stories tells of a time when the people did their own thing; worshipped false gods and lived sinful lives.

We see much the same thing now. We are living for ourselves. We treasure our hi-tech items. We change the definitions of things we don't agree with, we go with the flow and allow our values to drown in a sea of tolerance.

God is willing to forgive, but He is waiting for us to repent; He needs us to change and set aside our false gods. Joel is calling the people to fast and to pray and to beg forgiveness. Were Joel with us today, he would likely be saying the same thing.

Joel 1:-7, 13-14