Why...?

     If one read the book of Joel, there might be some things they would find baffling or even contradictory. God gave Joel the words to speak and what Joel says at first is about the locust swarms and then about the fields and trees becoming bare. He then demands that the priests, vinedressers, and farmers should wail for their losses. No longer is there any wheat or fruit or gladness and joy in the house of God.

     "The herds of cattle wander aimlessly because their is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness and the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for You; for the water brooks are dried up and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness." The livestock are even suffering from this great starvation and drought. Have the people of the Lord done something to anger God? Have they brought these "locust" among themselves? Later on in the "Terrible Visitation" the Lord says, "Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and morning; and rend your heart and not your garments."

     Once this happens the Lord will be zealous for his land and He says, "I will never again make you a reproach among the nations." One might ask, "Why has God made his nation an object of scorn or contempt?" Would he not want to make his nation great? Later on in the "Terrible Visitation" the Lord says, "Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten....My great army which I sent among you. Why would God send locust among his people?

    In the end, God will bless the people of Judah, and the nations who conquered Judah will be punished by God. But the question still remains, why did God do these things to his people? His people knew they were the chosen people of God and yet they must have still not followed the greatest commandment (found in Deuteronomy 6:5) Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and strength. God is a just God, and he must punish sin. This is what he did to his people because they turned from Him time and time again throughout the Old Testament (their disbelief when God promised them the Promised Land, Israel's cry for a human ruler/king, Babylonian captivity). It is also seen in the synoptic gospels that God was pleased with Jesus, but shortly after his baptism he was led by the spirit into the desert to be tempted. Why was Jesus lead by the holy Spirit to be tempted and suffer??--to show his obedience to his father and to prove that he was the Son of God. It seems that suffering is a necessary part of being one of God's children. But at the end of the book of Joel, His love is displayed because the people of Judah turned to Him though a rendering of their hearts, fasting, weeping, and mourning.