The short prophecy of Joel starts with the devastation caused by prolonged drought and a plague of locusts. A double whammy. As if a catastrophic lack of rainfall were not enough! And four types of locust were involved: swarming, hopping, stripping and cutting. Nothing whatsoever would have been left! I couldn't help but think of Covid 19.

Severe droughts and plagues of locusts were covenant curses promised by God if his people failed to obey him (Dt 28:24 & 38). "The Lord is at the head of the column [of locusts]. He leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders" (Joel 2:11). What was he actually doing? Disciplining his people; punishing them in order to bring about repentance and change. And Joel also preached: "Return to the Lord your God for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish" (2:13). The Father longs to be merciful, but under the Old Covenant, judgment followed a persistent refusal to repent and a deliberate turning away from God to embrace idol worship.  

Under the New Covenant, and in an era of grace, there is a change: patient mercy replaces punishment and judgment in the here and now. Jesus has now paid the price for the sins of the whole world. "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). As a direct consequence of the fall, Christian and non-Christian alike, suffer sicknesses, diseases, disasters and abuse. Consider what Jesus taught. "Do you think that these Galileans [whom Pilate had brutally murdered] were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee? Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the 18 people who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish too" (Lk 13:1-5). After a natural disaster, we do not represent or share the Father's heart if we say: "Such people in that part of the world got what their sins deserved".

God's heart has always been the same: both to send disaster and to allow the consequences of the fall to play out, in order to give time for people to humble themselves and repent of their sin and rebellion. Jeremiah wrote: "God does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men" (Lam 3:33). And Peter taught: "The Lord is … patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Pt 3:9).