From Mess to Message

Their nation was in a mess. God asked them, “Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?” [1] Bugs had decimated their land. [2] A strong nation fiercely attacked them. [3] The priests were mourning. [4] Farmers were wailing because they had no harvest. Trees gave forth no fruit. Joy had withered away. [5]

What did the Lord urge them to do? He urged them to call a fast. Call a sacred assembly! Gather in the house of God and cry out to the Lord! [6] Blow the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! [7] “’Now, therefore,’ says the Lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ 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.” [8]

As they sought the Lord, the question came up, “Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” [9]

Then, the Lord said to them, “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you—the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.” [10] “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame.” [11]

But the Lord did more than restore their land, He poured out His Holy Spirit on them so that prophesying, dreams, and visions were happening in abundance. “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” [12]

People were getting saved! “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” [13]

As the people seriously and earnestly sought the Lord, He brought them from mess to message… a message of salvation that yielded increase both physically and spiritually.

Therefore, may the Lord help us to fast, to gather together and to cry out to the Lord for an outpouring of His Holy Spirit on our land.

[1] Joel 1:2
[2] Joel 1:4
[3] Joel 1:6
[4] Joel 1:9
[5] Joel 1:11-12
[6] Joel 1:14
[7] Joel 2:1-2
[8] Joel 2:12-13
[9] Joel 2:17
[10] Joel 2:23-24
[11] Joel 2:26
[12] Joel 2:38-39
[13] Joel 2:32