1Blow the trumpet in Zion,
and sound an alarm in my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of Yahweh comes,
for it is close at hand:
2A day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn spreading on the mountains,
a great and strong people;
there has never been the like,
neither will there be any more after them,
even to the years of many generations.
3A fire devours before them,
and behind them, a flame burns.
The land is as the garden of Eden before them,
and behind them, a desolate wilderness.
Yes, and no one has escaped them.
4Their appearance is as the appearance of horses,
and they run as horsemen.
5Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, they leap,
like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble,
like a strong people set in battle array.
6At their presence the peoples are in anguish.
All faces have grown pale.
7They run like mighty men.
They climb the wall like warriors.
They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course.
8One doesn’t jostle another.
They each march in their own path.
They burst through the defenses
and don’t break ranks.
9They rush on the city.
They run on the wall.
They climb up into the houses.
They enter in at the windows like thieves.
10The earth quakes before them.
The heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11Yahweh thunders his voice before his army,
for his forces are very great;
for he is strong who obeys his command;
for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome,
and who can endure it?
12“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart,
and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
13Tear your heart and not your garments,
and turn to Yahweh, your God;
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness,
and relents from sending calamity.
In chapter 2 Joel urges the people to look to the future and the coming of the Day of the Lord. He describes an advancing army much like that of the locust in which nothing and no one will escape with the Lord at the front leading the way. The day sounds ominous and is filled with dread. In the first 11 verses we are offered little hope for the future until the Lord himself speaks in verse 12. The advancing army stops and the voice of the Lord is declared, ‘turn to me now while there is still time and give me your hearts.’ Isn’t it significant that the answer from the past and pharaoh was the same as the answer to the current day of Joel and locust plague and was also the answer to the future! Give your hearts to God.
The book of Joel looking at the past, present and future, reminds us that God is eternal with and eternal plan. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He was there at the beginning and he is here right now and his reign will know no end. We can get concerned about the future, anxious about the present, and agitated by the past. We can get caught up in sin now, rebel against God’s plans for tomorrow and refuse to let go of strongholds of the past. Conversely, we can think our past disqualifies us; our present isn’t good enough and there is no future hope. We need to learn that God frees us from the past, holds us in the present and walks before us into tomorrow. All he asks he from us is that we give our hearts to him. He can handle the rest!