The day of the Lord

Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand… “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. – Joel 2v1, 11-13

Joel prophesied of a current day of the Lord, but he also some of a day of the Lord that was to come. Leading up to this verse we read all about total misery and absolute destruction. Verse after verse portrays the wrath of God being poured out. The Day of the Lord was coming and the question is how the people would handle it.

The Day of the Lord talked about here is a day of judgement, and the people certainly deserved it. We often think about the prophets as being full of doom and destruction, and they are. But they are also full of hope based in the character of God.

I am going to look at one particular phrase tomorrow, but want to look at the character of God that gives us that hope in the midst of destruction.

We are able to ‘return to the Lord’ because He is our God. He is a God who is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.’

These statements are made on a national basis to Israel, but the truths are just as true for His children today. He is still gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness and He still wants His children to return to Him.