Desperation and Dependence

“Give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
    or in the days of your fathers?
Tell your children of it,
    and let your children tell their children,
    and their children to another generation.

What the cutting locust left,
    the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
    the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
    the destroying locust has eaten...

Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth
    for the bridegroom of her youth.
The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
    from the house of the Lord…
The fields are destroyed,
    the ground mourns,
because the grain is destroyed,
    the wine dries up,
    the oil languishes.

The vine dries up;
    the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
    all the trees of the field are dried up,
and gladness dries up
    from the children of man.

Put on sackcloth and lament..;
    wail, O ministers of the altar…

Consecrate a fast;
    call a solemn assembly…
Gather all the inhabitants of the land…
    and cry out to the Lord.

Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
Is not the food cut off
    before our eyes,
joy and gladness
    from the house of our God?

The seed shrivels under the clods;
    the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
    because the grain has dried up.
How the beasts groan…
because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.

To you, O Lord, I call.
For fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
    all the trees of the field.
Even the beasts of the field pant for you
    because the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.” Joel 1:2-4,8-10,12-20

Could there have been more complete devastation for Israel? No industry, no sustenance, no fruit. No resources, no ability to give. Judgment had brought destruction of all they held dear, joy was gone. Barrenness in toil, relationships. Loss of companionship, vitality, means for making a living. Dry. Drought. Desperation. Their only reprieve, only hope, was the Lord, and to Him they cried their lament. Only He could, and would, restore and redeem with wondrous dealings. (Joel 2:12-15,18-19,24-27)

Life-changing betrayal, choking grief over sudden loss of a loved one, security swept away by storm or fire, prolonged agonizing consequences of poor choices. Where do we turn in our pain and perplexing? Against the horde, to whom shall we go? If it true that these places are exactly where the sovereign God puts us, it is in the turning that we see why. He teaches us He is all we need. (2 Chronicles 20:12)

What present situation or relationship is discouraging, or desperate? Have we learned to lament over the very real loss and grief? Would we turn to Jesus, and trust His power to redeem and plan to restore?

“Whom have I in heaven but you?
    There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever...
It is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my refuge,
    that I may tell of all your works.” Psalm 73:25-26,28

Lord, for all Your afflictions, and all Your deliverances, may I proclaim Your works and praise.