T he prophet Joel lived in a day of calamity and crisis. He called upon God’s people to repent (2:16) and besought the Lord for a sweep ing revival (1:13). Indeed, the con sequence of repentance was that it was sweeping and weeping in its character. Peter quoted from Joel on the day of Pentecost. (This is about the only verse most people know from Joel.) My interest is the prayer in 2:17 wherein God calls upon His ministers, the priests, to pray. Cer tainly preachers today could well fol low the suggestion. I like the trans lation, “The ministers ought to weep between the porch and the altar say ing, ‘Eternal arms, spare thy people. Leave not thy heritage to be taunt ed, to be a byword among pagans. Why should the nations sneer, where is their God?’ ” Joel was saying, “I’m tired of the heathen asserting, ‘You Jews claim to be God’s people; where’s your miracle-working Lord who led you out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the promised land? Where is the God of David and Solomon? Where is the God of Elijah?’ ” The minister is to pray, “Oh, Lord, don’t let us be a laughing stock in the nations.” Today, a pagan world is saying to the church, “Where are your pow er and your miracles? Where is the supernatural? All you have is a dull dry program carried on by promo tion. You may have started with an experience but you wound up with merely a performance. The world is turning to the psychiatrist and the educator for its answers, claiming that God is dead. Frankly, I ’m more disturbed by the crowd that says, “God is not dead,” but then goes on living as though He were. After all, the business of the church is to
demonstrate the Lord. We are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, and a peculiar people. Our purpose is to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Too many troubled souls are like Gideon today. They are asking, “If God be for us, why has all of this befallen u s; where be all the miracles our fathers told us of?” Men don’t believe in miracles in some quarters, because they haven’t had any. People join a church on a confession of faith. It is an easy “believism” with no evidence of being new creatures, or that old things have passed away. We’re busy promoting an impersonal institutionalism. We are not repro ducing personal experience. This is time for ministers to pray, as in the days of Joel, “Oh God, don’t let your heritage be by word among the pagans. We are tired of hearing people sneer, ‘Where is your God?’ ” I am engaged in revivals in churches all of the time. I never go to a church where most of the mem bers come to revival meetings. They evidently don’t think they are worth going to. They couldn’t care less. This doesn’t embarrass me personal ly. I have reached the age where I’m not trying to project an image or build up a reputation. Christians rightly claim to represent the great est thing in the world. Salvation is the answer to every need of human ity. Yet, if we believe in what we do, it would take the biggest auditorium in the country to hold the people. If we don’t believe these truths, then we are the worst hypocrites on earth, preaching and promoting something most of its adherents wouldn’t miss if they lost. There is something wrong with our 7
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