In Control of the Chaos (Joel 1:1–2:27)

A tsunami wipes out entire coastlines and the same question rises in every generation: if God is sovereign, why didn’t He stop it? We start there because real life starts there, with grief, shock, and the temptation to explain other people’s pain. Instead of reaching for quick answers, we follow the clearer path Scripture gives: don’t assume disasters are targeted payback, and don’t waste the warning that life is fragile. 

Then we open the book of Joel and watch a nation reel under a locust plague so severe it destroys fields, dries up wine, and leaves the land mourning. Joel doesn’t lead with weather patterns or theories. He calls priests and people to gather, to pray, and to return to the Lord. Along the way we unpack the meaning of the Day of the Lord, why Joel describes an invading army as the Lord’s army, and how repentance is meant to be inward and honest, not performative. 

The surprising turn is hope. Joel points to God’s mercy and His willingness to relent, and he holds out one of the most healing promises for anyone who feels devoured by loss: “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.” If you’re wrestling with suffering, judgment, repentance, or what it means to trust God without getting an explanation, you’ll find both clarity and comfort here. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with the line that challenged you most.

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Transcript

Joel Begins With Locust Devastation

The Day Of The Lord Near

Return To God With Your Heart

Restoration After Repentance

Trust God In Chaos And Pain

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Several years ago, a tsunami in the Indian Ocean suddenly swept ashore there in Indonesia. Sri Lanka and other areas claimed more than 200,000 lives, and to this day, in fact, it remains one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. As you can imagine, it left people with a lot of questions about life, even about God's role in human affairs. I mean, if God is truly sovereign, all powerful, this question was repeated over and over again in news outlets across the world. Why didn't he control this disaster? I mean, if God is in control of everything, why did he permit such a random, tragic loss of life? Well, that's a good question, a deep question, demands a long answer. But here's what we can say for today. God has a purpose in everything, even if those purposes aren't explained to us, and we need to be careful not to assume that God uses all such natural disasters to target people who are especially sinful. In fact, during the ministry of Jesus, a tall tower collapsed unexpectedly. It killed 18 people. When Jesus was told of this deadly occurrence, he responded not with an explanation of why it happened, but with a reminder that all people eventually are going to die, and they need to repent before that day arrives, and they need to follow God. Now, even if we don't understand all of God's purposes behind these events that we call natural disasters, the lessons we do need to think about are these. Well, what would it mean to us one minute after we died if we went through something like that? Well, the lesson to be learned from tragedy, then, is the need to turn to the Lord. Well, with that, today we begin our wisdom journey through the little book of Joel, the second in the list of twelve minor prophets here in the Old Testament. The prophet Joel describes a disaster currently taking place, and he uses it to warn his readers of even greater disasters to come. And just like Jesus, Joel is going to urge the people to repent. Now, while there are no time markers here in this book, I believe he lived about a hundred years before Hosea during the reign of King Joash of Judah. 2 Chronicles 24 gives us the details. Now, this would mean that his ministry in Judah actually overlapped with the miraculous ministry of the prophet Elisha, there in the northern kingdom of Israel. Joel begins here in chapter one by describing a devastating plague of locusts that has come upon the land. And it's hard to even imagine how destructive locusts can be to an agriculturally based society. I've read that a locust is capable of eating his own weight every day. One square mile of a swarm of locusts can include actually more than a hundred million of these hungry creatures. And if you can believe it, swarms have been known to cover hundreds of square miles. Well, this is what Joel is describing here when he says in verse 7, that the locusts have laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree. They have stripped off their bark. Verse ten writes, The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes. Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil. Wail, O vine dressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. Now I gotta tell you, nobody is expecting this tsunami of locusts that literally swept through the land. And frankly, Joel doesn't spend any time giving us any explanation. He simply calls on the priests to gather the people and call upon the Lord in repentance. The relief they truly need is going to come by repenting of their sin. There's another reason they need to turn to the Lord. Joel says here in verse 15 The day of the Lord is near. Now this expression in the Bible, the day of the Lord, simply refers to that period of divine judgment. It's often used for that future period of judgment we call the tribulation. Joel here, however, is focusing on a near-term judgment. He says this locust attack is referring to the near future event when Judah will be attacked by the swarming Assyrian army. In fact, the first verse of chapter two calls for the trumpet to be sounded to alert the people. Joel says here, The day of the Lord is coming, it is near. Verse 2 says, It's a day of darkness and gloom. Joel describes the invading army here in verse 10. The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw all their shining. By the way, this invading army is called the Lord's army. I don't know if you notice that. It's the Lord's army. Why? Because they're fulfilling the purposes of the Lord. Verse eleven says, The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great. He who executes his word is powerful, for the day of the Lord is great and very awesome, who can endure it? Now how should the people of God respond to this prophetic announcement of a coming tsunami of judgment from the Lord? Well, here again, it's repentance. Verse twelve says, Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent. Now Joel actually assumes the nation's going to repent. He promises here in verse 18, the Lord had pity on his people. The Lord answered and said to his people, Behold, I am sending you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied. He's assuming he's speaking of the people turning to the Lord in repentance, and relief is going to come from these locusts. But more than that, deliverance is going to come from that invading army. The Lord says here in verse 20, I will remove the northerner far from you. Again, this enemy that comes from the north is the Assyrian army. And by the way, we know from the book of 2 Kings and the Book of Isaiah that the Lord dramatically ended the Assyrian threat during the reign of King Hezekiah. The angel of the Lord responded to the prayer of repentance and struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers that had already surrounded Jerusalem, 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37. The Lord then calls on the land here in verse 21 to fear not the beasts of the field, to fear not, verse 22, and the children of Zion to be glad, verse 23. God promises now abundant rain, verse 25. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. I love this promise here. The locusts have ruined so many things, but God can restore many things for someone who repents and walks with him. The point to remember is not to wait around any longer to return to walking with God. Natural disasters, accidents, unexpected problems, listen, they are all under the sovereign control of the Lord. Even the chaos around you is under his divine control. Now, in the meantime, God isn't going to leave us on our own. Now that doesn't mean God always gives us an explanation, but we can trust him no matter what takes place. But listen, beloved, there's one thing that every disaster, every challenge in life, every painful problem we have should drive us to do. And that's examine our hearts, our desires, our motivations to be sure we are walking with God. And then let's be quick to admit when we aren't right with Him, when we need to repent. And let's ask the Lord to once again chase away those locusts from our lives. And let's never downplay, by the way, the suffering that people endure at times. It's real, those problems are painful, those unexpected events are distressing, and it's the common experience for all of us in this fallen world. But even in the midst of hardship, even here in the book of Joel, let's be reminded of God's grace to us now. Let's be reminded of the hope we have in Him for the future. He's in control of that as well. Over that, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.