The Beginning Of A Side Trip…

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee

So I heard rumors this morning that prayer has been a response of many churches in reaction to the assassination attempt of President Trump.  It was a day we were not expecting.  Worse tragedy was mercifully stayed, however I find that in Joel Scripture talks about the coming day of the LORD.  The days of judgment and of calamity.  Days when the LORD is enacting His Will and there is nothing we can do but watch.  It seems to come down to one thing.

Exodus 20: 1-6

“And God spoke all these words, saying; I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  You shall have no other gods before Me.  You shall not make for yourself a carved image- any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.  For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

And as James asks…

James 4: 5

“Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?”

Joel is an interesting book of the Bible and somewhat relevant to our current study on leadership as the book opens as Joel speaks on behalf of God to the leaders of Israel.  It is a book from a prophet to the leaders of a nation under siege.

Joel 1: 1-3

“The Word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.  Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!  Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?  Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”

Something was happening.  Something big.  Something that Joel was sent to speak to the leaders of Israel about.

Joel 1: 4-7

“What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locus left, the consuming locust has eaten.  Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.  For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; his teeth are teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce lion.  He has laid waste My vine, and ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; its branches are made white.”

The prophet goes on to prophesy about the coming judgement of The LORD and it all culminates in a call to repentance.  But the call of repentance is not vague or general.  The LORD asks for specific things.

Joel 2: 12-19

“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.  Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him- a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?  Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room.  Let the priests, who minister to the LORD weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them.  Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’  Then the LORD will be zealous for His land, and pity His people.  The LORD will answer and say to His people, ‘Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.”

When faced with Divine punishment, the LORD gives us instructions.  He starts by telling us that we are to turn to Him with all our hearts.  That turning is accompanied by some actions.  Fasting, weeping and mourning.  The response that God gives to the leaders of Israel, the instructions for how He wants His people to approach Him during the days of His judgment, are to remember Him honestly, but not just to remember Him honestly, but to honestly do some things that show your heart has turned towards him.  The first instruction?

Fasting.

In a world that has been thoroughly saturated with unspiritual and materialistic explanations for almost everything, is there something Spiritual that we think God is trying to tell us as a nation?  Is this momentous event where one of our leaders has had his life threatened by violence, a leader that has aligned himself with conservative Christians, do we think it’s possible that there is a Divine message in the event for us as a nation?

I think so.

So maybe it’s time for us to be leaders ourselves.  Maybe it’s time for us to take a little side trip in our study.  Leaders fast.  At least Christian leaders should fast.  I think it’s fair to say that Christian leaders should at least know what fasting is and how to fast before Jesus.  Let’s take a little side journey and look at fasting and let the change start with us.

James 4: 10

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

I think that’s a good start for the day.

Happy waiting!

:)