Sermon – Joel 2:21-27 – The Lord Has Done Great Things

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Joel 2:21-27 – The Lord Has Done Great Things

Thanksgiving Sunday

November 18, 2012

This Thursday many of us will gather with family and friends to give thanks to God for all the blessings we have received. It is very easy to praise God when things are going well. When your health is good and all the bills are paid and your children all have good jobs then praising God thanking him for our blessings is easy. But what if you have not been blessed this year? What if you health if failing? What if your parent died or was put in a nursing home? What if your children are out of work and losing their homes? What if tree falls on your church? At times like these it is tempting to cancel Thanksgiving. After all some of us are asking: what do we have to be thankful for? We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

This past week I met with the session of Beaver Dam church to discuss what to do about the flood in the sanctuary and the two trees which had fallen and opened holes in the floor and ceiling of our Sunday school room. I was concerned going into the meeting that the elders of the church would have difficulty dealing with all that had befallen us, and I wasn't quite sure what the pastor should do or say in a situation like that. I found though that I had nothing to fear. The elders had a plan for dealing with the problems, and they believed that even in the midst of these problems the church had been richly blessed. The trees could have fallen on our historic sanctuary. If so we might not have had enough money to rebuild and would have to worship elsewhere. But God had protected the sanctuary so worship continues. Damage was limited to the Sunday school room which could easily be repaired. The elders hoped that this disaster might actually be good for our church. It might wake us from our complacency and put us on a path to new growth and mission. All of this lifted my spirits and assured me that a couple of trees falling on a roof could not destroy a church of Jesus Christ. So we have much to be thankful for. Beaver Dam is worshiping in it historic sanctuary with a renewed spirit.

I was also lifted up by the Pitts Creek session and the presbytery of New Castle. Pitts Creek offered Beaver Dam the use of its building for meetings and worship. And New Castle Presbytery has showered us with prayers and offers of help. Even in the midst of a violent storm and flood we are richly blessed and thankful.

This scripture I have for you this Thanksgiving Sunday comes from the Book of Joel.

Joel 1:2-4 ² Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? ³ Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. ⁴ What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.

So we see that great hoards of locust have eaten the all crops in the field. Three times the fields where covered by these insects and now there is nothing left to harvest. This is truly a calamity of biblical proportions. Let's get back to Joel.

Joel 1:5 ⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips.

Oh no! The locust not only eaten the grain they have even eaten the grape vines and so there will be no wine this year. No grain! No wine! What will they do? Let's go back to Joel.

Joel 1:6-7 ⁶ A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. ⁷ It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.

The locusts have destroyed the fruit trees. There will be no figs this year. No grain, no wine, no figs, no olive oil, next year's seeds dried up, the hungry cattle, and no offerings for the Temple. People are facing starvation. Maybe they should cancel Thanksgiving. It the midst of this catastrophic failure what should they do? Let's go back to Joel.

Joel 1:13-15 ¹³ Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. ¹⁴ Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. ¹⁵ Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Joel has ordered the priests to put on sackcloth and fast. This will prepare them for what they have to do. They are also told to call a sacred assembly, blow the rams horn, and call all the people to worship God and pray. There only hope was that God would hear their prayers and respond. When everything seems to be going wrong and we have nothing to be thankful for we need to come to church for worship and prayer. This is where we come into contact with our creator and find our only hope of salvation. When the people of Joel's time came to worship this is what happened.

Joel 2:17 ¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?''

So the priests offered up prayers reminding God that he had chosen these people who are suffering so much. And now other nations are watching as the people of God suffer. This hurts God's reputation. People will think the God is too weak to save his people, or maybe God does not even care for his own people. So what did God do? How did he respond to this prayer?

Joel 2:18-20 ¹⁸ Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. ¹⁹ The LORD will reply to them: 'I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. ²⁰ 'I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea and those in the rear into the western sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.' Surely he has done great things.

So the promise of scripture is that whenever we experience misfortune, death, illness, famine or flood if we turn to the Lord in worship and prayer, God, our loving father, will care for us and see us through to better times. This is a comforting thought. We can rest in the assurance that God is there no matter what happens so long as we turn to him and ask for help.

This is what we are thankful for on Thanksgiving. We are thankful not just for the blessings we have received, the blessings of health and family and prosperity and church. But we are also thankful when times are tough because God is there, with us, to lead us to a better day. The prophet Joel shows us how to thank God even in bad times with these words.

Joel 2:21-27 ²¹ Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things. ²² Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. ²³ Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. ²⁴ The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. ²⁵ 'I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-- the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm--my great army that I sent among you. ²⁶ You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. ²⁷ Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.

The Word of God.

Let us pray. Father in Heaven we turn to you in this sacred assembly. We thank you for protecting us and the church during Hurricane Sandy. Thank you for giving us the strength and resources we need to rebuild the Sunday school room. Thank you for preserving us as your church. Thank you for comforting the bereaved and healing the sick. Thank you for this opportunity to worship and pray in your presence. This we pray in our savior's name, Jesus. Amen.