Who Can Say To Him, “What Are You Doing?” No. 4

I have four more Scriptural accounts I want to look at in this series, but I’m going to do it in four separate articles to keep them a bit shorter than the earlier posts. Before the last treatise on prayer, point one was Habakkuk, and point two was the Assyrians. We pick up from there.

3. Joel’s locusts. We don’t know exactly when Joel prophesied; fairly early, I believe, for a reason I shall duly note. But the context of his prophesy was a devastating locust plague: “What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten,” (1:4—that’s the New King James Version translation. The exact identity of each of those little critters is uncertain.). The reader is perhaps aware of the devastation that locusts could cause in Middle Eastern societies; they ate everything and thus a severe famine always followed. “The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails,” (v. 10). It was catastrophic.

And it was deliberately sent by God: “My great army which I sent among you” (2:25). This natural calamity was a warning from the Almighty, and the purpose was to encourage repentance: "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,” (2:12-13). And herein lies the reason I believe this book is written earlier than most of the prophets (Isaiah, for example, wrote in the late 8th century B.C.; Joel wrote much earlier). In Joel, God sends the locust plague as a warning. Israel did not heed. So, the Lord then punished them more severely with captivity, which is the theme of Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and the later prophets. God gives us plenty of chances—and reminders—to repent. If we don’t heed those admonitions, it isn’t His fault when disaster overtakes us.

Now let’s consider an important thought in line with the overall theme of this series—“What are you doing, God?” Does He send natural disasters upon peoples and nations to warn and punish them? Well, yes, He does, that’s exactly what Joel said. But, are ALL natural disasters warnings and punishments to those specific people? For example, was the recent ravaging earthquake in Haiti sent by God, or simply allowed by God? That question I cannot answer; it is here we must be very careful in dealing with the mind and purposes of Jehovah. Was God punishing the Haitians? They do have some wicked, heathen practices down there. But why the Haitians and not Las Vegas? No idea. And again, I am not saying that the earthquake in Haiti was “God’s army,” as the locust plague in Joel’s day was. But I can say this: it would be a very good idea if we learned the lesson that natural disasters can happen anytime, anywhere and that we’d do well to always be prepared to meet God. We are not going to get out of this life alive; something will get us some day, whether it be catastrophe or illness, war or famine, or whatever. This world is not our home, and let Haiti—and Joel—instruct us that God is trying to get us to think about our relationship with Him, and get our lives right as quickly as possible. Perhaps a natural disaster is a warning from God, or a punishment from God; there’s no way of knowing. But, either way, it should remind us of the brevity of life, and the certainty of judgment. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27).

“What are you doing, God?” “I’m trying to get you to heaven,” would be His response. And if we don’t learn the lessons He’s trying to teach—through the Bible and events in our lives—then we have no one to blame but ourselves if we are separated from Him for eternity.