God will bring judgment on us when we sin. This devotion looks at an example of sin and how God’s firm punishment takes away our joy.
Nuggets
- Drunkenness not only can damage what we have, but it can also force us to lose what we have when we take our focus off God.
- God punishes us for our sin, sometimes until we are ravaged.
- God’s punishment will evoke an intense response.
- Joy cannot reside where sin has invaded the space.
Devotions in The Days According to Joel series
Joel prophesied about two separate judgments that would befall the Israelites. The first allowed them to get right with God before the second judgment happened.
The first “day” Joel prophesied about was a locust strike. When that prophecy came to pass, the Israelites would know that they could count on the second one coming true.
Joel talked about the sin that brought on the judgment. We need to know what brought on the judgment.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
The Sin of Drunkenness
“Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips” (Jl. 1: 5 ESV)
Drunkenness not only can damage what we have, but it can also force us to lose what we have when we take our focus off God.
We said in the last devotion that Joel’s message was one of preparation. He was trying to get the Israelites to wake up and see their sins before the second judgment came.
They could only do this by being truly sorry for the sins they have committed. This repentance needed to include turning from committing those sins in the future.
The first swing Joel took was at the sin of drunkenness.
When we are intoxicated, we are oblivious to life around us as it really is. We do not see the temptations with which Satan is challenging us. Our morals start slipping.
Excell explained it this way. He wrote, “These drunkards of Judah were not merely mentally blind to the calamities which had come upon their country, but were morally incapable of estimating their due social effect.”
Resource
The social effect was occurring because of the conscience of the Israelite people were not focused on God. The drunkenness was putting the focus on them.
Glossary
But how many times do we consider drunkenness is causing our moral deterioration? Not many times. Worldview people just think we are exercising our right to enjoy our lives as we see fit.
They don’t stop to consider that the bill will eventually come due. God will judge us for not following His laws and commandments. Joel warned the Israelites they will become miserable.
The English Standard Version translates the word wail. Yeah, I bet a whole lot of tears will be falling.
The King James Version translates it howl. Ooo, baby. Doesn’t that express a lot more pain?
That ramps all emotions up to 11. To me, the howl defines misery better than wail because it sounds like even more raw emotion.
The misery has two elements to it. There is self loathing and social contempt.
Drunkenness brings pain with it. There is not only physical discomfort, but it also brings personal uncertainty and discontent.
The social consequences of drunkenness are also prevalent. Many are killed each year by drunken drivers. The effects of the alcohol make people react differently than they normally would. They cannot function as they should.
Misery is caused when we lose what we had due to drunkenness. “It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white” (Jl. 1: 7 ESV).
What? Do we think once we have much, we will always have much? That is not guaranteed!
Punishment for Sin
“A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white” (Jl. 1: 6-7 ESV)
God punishes us for our sin, sometimes until we are ravaged.
What? You don’t think God will punish us for not obeying Him? Oh, yes, He will!
God is going to take out that which is causing the sin. In this example, the drunkenness is the sin. The products that make the alcohol have to go.
Now remember, we are talking about an attack of the locust. This wasn’t a one-time shot. It was wave after wave of the little buggers.
God can keep up the judgments until He is ready to end them. He isn’t going to just run out of resources.
In the last devotion, we talked about God using the little bitty insect to wreak havoc. They are going to do the work that their Creator has for them.
The locusts here had their marching orders. They invaded just as a nation of their time would have invaded them.
Excell explained how that would be. He wrote, “And so the retributive agencies of heaven often come upon the wicked in terrible combination. The agencies of Eternal Justice are unconsciously in sympathy with each other, and advance in one vast army to execute the penalty of sin.”
Resource
God equipped the locust as He needed. Do we doubt that?
God has promised to equip us as we need to do His work to expand His kingdom. “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb. 13: 0-21 ESV).
Wouldn’t He equip those He asks to dispense His judgment, too?
We can’t gloss over the description of laid waste. The locust totally desolated the land.
God is not going to lightly judge those who are disobedient to Him. We can’t expect Him, too.
No, we don’t get to choose what is or isn’t a sin. Only God does.
No, we don’t get to choose the judgment of those sins. Only God does.
Sovereign God chooses what He defines as obedience.
The King James Version translated this verse in an interesting way. “He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white” (Jl. 1: 7 KJV).
Martin described what Joel meant with the fig tree reference. He wrote, “To bark our fig-tree is to remove that in which we have found chief pleasure and advantage.”
Resource
God Himself is going to remove the non-spiritual things from us. He will take that which takes our focus from Him.
Why does God pass judgment on us? He wants to correct us. “As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?” (Heb. 12: 7 NLT).
No, God is not doing that to show us how angry He is with us. Trust me, if He would correct us to the level of the sin we committed, it would not be pretty.
God, on the other hand, treats us with mercy. God’s mercy is an act of sovereign will that produces an unexpected and undeserved response from God as He responds in love to our needs.
I am sure God would prefer that prevention comes before it comes to correction. He much rather would have us obedient than disobedient.
God’s intent for barking our tree is so that we will become more like Him.
Our Emotional Response to Punishment
“Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed of her youth. Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the Lord. The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails” (Jl. 1: 8-10 ESV)
God’s punishment will evoke an intense response.
I think it would have been very traumatic for a young lady to lose the man to whom she was betrothed. We don’t know how long the arrangements had been made, possibly a long time. In those days, women needed the men to live.
If that man was suddenly gone, that really put the woman’s future in question. She wasn’t the wife yet. Circumstances changed, so worship changed.
I have to process what Excell said. I read what he wrote to say that worship is suspended when our worldly resources fail.
The example Excell used was the Jewish sacrifices. No animals, no worship.
Ooo, baby. Isn’t that the truth and then some!
Mankind has a tendency to worship God when there is reason to worship Him. Everything is going how we think it should — we’re in the building. We’ve got money to pay the bills, and no one is sick. Sing hallelujah.
Just let one thing start going south on us, and no more worship! Instead, God gets to start hearing our complaints.
That isn’t the way God wants it. He wants our worship through all circumstances.
Yes, God provides us with resources that we are expected to return to Him. True, we gain them through our work, but they are ultimately given to us by God. Excell wrote, “Secular prosperity is more dependent upon moral character than many are inclined to admit.”
Resource
But if the temple offerings were suspended, God was displeased. Think about it.
If our offerings are infiltrated with sin, why would God accept our worship? Why should He? We wouldn’t.
So, when we start to neglect our worship of God, we really need to evaluate what is wrong. We need to get it right.
When we neglect worship, it needs to be felt all the way to the heart level. That is where God is inside us — our core.
Tied with that is our mind. So, neglect of worship is as Excell said — a mental weakness.
Sin Eliminates Joy
“Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree — all the trees of the field — are dried up. Surely the people’s joy is withered away”(Jl. 1: 11-12 ESV)
Joy cannot reside where sin has invaded the space.
The wailing continued.
Yes, Joel was still stuck on the same theme. But he felt he needed to do so.
We don’t always get it the first time around. Or second. Or third.
Joel wasn’t interested in a surface repentance. He knew the Israelites had to get it down to the heart level.
They had to make major changes in their lives. Their fields were not producing after their efforts to procure a harvest.
Oh, yeah. We may be doing right in working for God. Then here comes sin and demolishes everything.
Sin destroys the beauty in the world. It takes what is valuable and makes it useless.
The saddest part is that joy is taken. Well, we know joy comes from the Lord. “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy …” (Gal. 5: 22 ESV).
Yes, God wants us to have the joy, but Excell reminded us that God wants us to have a balance. He wrote, “They must not he abused by excess or ingratitude, or they will be withdrawn, and the joy they should give will be turned into mourning.”
Resource
I read that to mean we can get so caught up in something being joyful, we start to forget that God was the source of the thing — therefore, the source of the joy. The job may bring a lot of joy, but it isn’t the job that is the source of the joy.
Forsyth brought up a really good point. Let me apply it to the harvest that has been going on around me.
Resource
Central Illinois had a good harvest this year, but it wasn’t the greatest. Some years, it it better. Some years, it is worse.
So, which year should be our measuring stick? Probably the one that teaches us humility and patience.
Good years are great, but God can still use a bad year to grow us.
We have to remember that we must depend on God. He is Sovereign God.
Our relationships with God have to be our priority. We have to be very concerned when we aren’t producing.
But we know that the only way we will produce is if God blesses. To me, that means we have to make sure we are in His Will. Pastor Steve has had a theme in the last several months — blessing is in the obedience.
Making the Connections
Sin is very destructive. It especially tries to thwart that which should bring us joy. It robs us of our sense of accomplishment, taking all the joy and beauty out of our worship of God.
Resource
We have to remember that God matches the punishment to the sin. He has a purpose for the punishment.
Robinson told us about it. He wrote, “The Lord in His righteous dealings withholds those gifts of His providence which have been abused. He takes from an ungodly people the means of gratifying their lusts, and leads them to repentance by afflictions which are not capriciously ordered, but with exactest wisdom suited to their character.”
God’s goal is to bring us back into a relationship with Him.
How Do We Apply This?
- Expect God to use His creation to dispense judgment on us, knowing He will equip them to complete the tasks He has assigned to them.
- Repent and submit to God when we have sinned.
- Learn all things God wants us to during times of correction.
- Recognize God’s Will throughout our lives.
- Strive for moral goodness.
- Trust God’s Will.
- Evaluate what is wrong when we start to neglect our worship of God and make it right.
- Accept that our resources are a gift from God, not of our own striving, and are therefore representative of God’s pleasure and displeasure of our worship.
Resource
Father God. Punish us when we disobey You. That is the only way we will come back to You. Even though we will suffer, we want to be in Your Will. Amen.
What do you think?
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