Lenten Reader Prayer Devotional

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

   

1   Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem!

    Raise the alarm on my holy mountain!

Let everyone tremble in fear

    because the day of the Lord is upon us.

2 It is a day of darkness and gloom,

    a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.

Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains,

    a great and mighty army appears.

Nothing like it has been seen before

    or will ever be seen again.

   

   

   

12  That is why the Lord says,

    “Turn to me now, while there is time.

Give me your hearts.

    Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,

    but tear your hearts instead.”

Return to the Lord your God,

    for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

    He is eager to relent and not punish.

14 Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve,

    sending you a blessing instead of this curse.

Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine

    to the Lord your God as before.

15 Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!

    Announce a time of fasting;

call the people together

    for a solemn meeting.

16 Gather all the people—

    the elders, the children, and even the babies.

Call the bridegroom from his quarters

    and the bride from her private room.

17 Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence,

    stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.

Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!

    Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.

Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,

    ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

   

   

-----------------------------------------------------

There are times when life with God becomes so mundane.

We believe there is more to be experienced with him because we’ve heard about it, and we’ve read about it in the scriptures. But we don’t know how to get from there from here.

So we try changing things up to try and improve. We might get up early for devotions. We might volunteer down at the food bank. We might try to memorize some verses. We might join a small group. All good things yes. But all the kinds of things that fit nicely into a New Year’s resolution.

Our passage from Joel today tells us that there is something we can do, but we might not think it’s written for us today. The prophet Joel gives us ample warning that the day of the Lord is coming. A day of sober sadness, a day of darkness and gloom perhaps unknown in our lives. It may be THE day of the Lord, or it may be a day of the Lord’s visitation in our lives. Whichever it< might be, it is a message of warning that Joel was called on to deliver to his generation, and to us.

What if this Lenten season we received his warning, and began to act on it as he instructs us. What if we would turn towards God with a sorrow filled heart? What if we were to call our hearts to a sacred assembly, a holy meeting with God, and repent?

Oh, we may say we have nothing to repent of. Our relationship with Christ is good.

Yes, I know it is. Mine is too. However, I found when I started to heed His warning, and I intentionally stopped and turned towards Him, and I asked Him what I should repent of, He showed me my selfish acts. My acts of pride. My incidents of self righteousness. He showed me my moments of anger. He showed me my envy and my careless attitude. On and on He showed me. I began to repent, and it has led to more repentance, and its turned into a season of repentance.

It turns out I do have things to repent of and to clean up between Jesus and me. (And if I run out of things to repent for, I can start repenting on behalf of my nation.)

And you know what? Life gets a little clearer, and my step gets a little lighter and gladness takes the place of what was once mundane in my relationship with God.

Amazing how that works.




Evangelical Covenant Church of Canada 2024 Lenten Reader