It’s a challenge for many inside and outside the church that God allows suffering. The omnipotence of God coupled with his love would seem to rule out suffering. Yet, it is the lived experience of all people. What the Cross of Jesus shows without doubt is that God is not aloof to suffering. God uses tragedy to bring about good (cf. Romans 8:28). This includes both tragedies that God himself inflicts and the many others he does not. So what can a person do in the midst of suffering according to Joel?

The Prophet Joel describes an unheard-of locust invasion that destroyed the crops. This is a mere forerunner for the invasion of a foreign army as judgment for Israel’s idolatry. Joel teaches that it should result in consecrating a fast for the people of God to return to him in prayer. As C.S. Lewis put in in his book The Problem of Pain, “God…shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Suffering can serve to turn our attention and hearts back to God.

God uses disaster to bring deliverance.

“The day of the Lord” is a concept mentioned five times in Joel. It is the drawing near of the Lord for either judgment, or deliverance, sometimes both. God brought judgment upon Jerusalem when the Babylonians defeated them. But God promised later restoration. He is God who dwells in the midst of his people (Joel 2:27). God’s presence is the very thing we need but our sinfulness cannot endure. Repentance is the main word of direction from Joel. It is a change of mind resulting in a new direction. 

Taking It Home: Regardless of whatever actions a disaster might generate, repentance is always the first step. Make a habit of returning to God through repentance often, but especially in suffering.

Discussion Question: What does it mean to "call on the name of the Lord?"