“Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God and cry out to the LORD.” (Joel 1:14, ESV)

Desperate times call for equally desperate measures. A terrible locust plague struck Judah, destroying the vineyards, fruit trees, and grain fields. But this was merely a dress rehearsal for the “Day of the LORD” when God will judge all nations.

What were the people to do? The prophet Joel tells the farmers to be ashamed and the vine growers to wail. He commands the priests to dress in sackcloth before the altar of the LORD and to lament and wail. They should consecrate a fast and call for a sacred assembly. They should gather the leaders and the people of the land to the temple in Jerusalem and cry out to the LORD until he turns away His wrath.

But it is difficult to shake up the status quo, isn’t it? People resist change. They will put up with disaster, blame others, or grin and bear it, rather than mourn and weep and ask God to search their hearts and show them where they have sinned and need to repent.

If the people paid attention to Joel they could have avoided an even greater disaster. If they ignored his words, then they would suffer greatly for it.

It is interesting that many years earlier God had told King Solomon what the people should do in such a situation.

“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13–14, NKJV)

God gave the recipe for restoration and healing. But was anyone doing it?

In our modern nation of affluence, we do not feel such material devastation as Judah experienced in the days of Joel. But the spiritual locusts have been consuming the Judeo-Christian values from our culture. What does God want us to do about it? Are we to resort to the arm of flesh and use the weapons of the world? Should we not rather humble ourselves, pray to the God of heaven, and turn from our sins? What would happen if God’s people gathered for a sacred assembly to mourn over the sins of the nation and the sins of the church? There’s only one way to find out…