The Misery of Godlessness (Joel 1)

Godlessness is not merely the worship of false gods but the neglect of God’s presence in daily life, leading to spiritual apathy and societal collapse. Drawing from the book of Joel, this message highlights the devastating consequences of godlessness as seen in Israel's locust plague, which symbolizes judgment for their indifference toward Yahweh. The response to God's discipline should be marked by mourning, humility, and reverent anticipation of his mercy. True repentance involves crying out to God together as a community, preparing hearts for the day of Yahweh—a day that began with Christ's incarnation and continues until his return. As Advent approaches, believers are called to remember their need for Christ, recognizing the joy of his coming and the hope of his reign.

Transcript:

All right, we're going to take the next three weeks to prepare our hearts and minds for Advent. Advent is the four weeks leading up to Christmas, a season of anticipation for the incarnation. In a way, this is preparing for the preparing. But as we go through this, I think it will become clear why I want to do this this year.

The title of our series comes from the book of Joel: The Day of Yahweh. You’ll often see this phrase as The Day of the Lord, a theme Joel emphasizes throughout his book. In this series, we will reflect on our condition as human beings and our need for God to take on flesh in the incarnation. We will examine why we need Jesus to be our hope so that when Advent begins, we can truly focus on Christ as our hope.

Today, we’re talking about The Misery of Godlessness. I want to give you the title upfront because it ties into understanding who Joel is. Joel is a prophet, and if you read his book—which is only three chapters—you might not immediately find his message uniquely distinct. Much of what he says echoes other prophets, particularly Amos. However, his emphasis on The Day of Yahweh is significant.

Joel’s name, properly pronounced Yoel in Hebrew, is a composite of Yahweh and Elohim. Yahweh is the personal name of God, while Elohim is a general term used in Scripture for God, gods, or spiritual beings. So, Joel’s name means Yahweh is God, which is striking because his prophetic message calls Israel back to that very truth.

Throughout the Old Testament, Israel repeatedly turned away from Yahweh to worship false gods—Baal, Asherah, Marduk, and others. They provoked Yahweh to jealousy by chasing after the gods of the nations. However, in Joel’s time, the issue wasn’t blatant idolatry. Instead, Israel was struggling with godlessness.

How Does Godlessness Affect God’s People?

Let’s read our passage from Joel 1:1-4:

"The word of Yahweh that came to Joel, son of Pethuel.
Hear this, you elders; listen, all you inhabitants of the land!
Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?
Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to the next generation.
What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left, the young locust has eaten.
And what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten."

Godlessness had brought judgment upon Israel, and that judgment came in the form of a devastating locust plague. But what do we mean by godlessness?

Godlessness doesn’t necessarily mean they abandoned Yahweh for other gods. In this case, it almost certainly doesn’t mean that. Joel prophesied after the exile, a period when Judah had already been disciplined by God. They had been taken to Babylon for seventy years because of their idolatry. When Persia conquered Babylon, they were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Unlike before, they didn’t return to outright idolatry. And yet, Joel still rebukes them for godlessness.

Why? Because godlessness doesn’t mean worshiping false gods—it means not acknowledging God at all. They had become apathetic in their faith.

And this can happen so easily. Life is filled with everyday concerns—school, work, providing for a family, managing responsibilities. These things consume our attention. A student focuses on grades and preparing for the future. An adult focuses on maintaining a household, earning a living, and taking care of their family. These are good and necessary things, but they can consume us to the point where we live most of our day without consciously depending on God.

For the Israelites of Joel’s time, this was the danger. They weren’t bowing to foreign gods, but they were living as if Yahweh wasn’t present in their daily lives. They went through the motions of religion, but their hearts were disengaged.

And that’s the danger of godlessness—it leads to spiritual apathy, where God becomes an afterthought instead of the center of our lives.

The Israelites were living their lives, working the land, rebuilding the city walls of Jerusalem, restoring their farmlands, and reviving their economy. They were simply trying to become a functioning nation again. But in the process, they became apathetic about God's presence and the very purpose of being God's chosen people. They lost that sense of identity and were living, effectively, as a secular nation. It was this apathy that brought judgment upon them.

The judgment described in Joel 1 is a plague of locusts. Historically, we don’t have clear evidence that a literal locust plague occurred, so many scholars believe Joel was recounting a vision—a warning of a future judgment, whether literal or symbolic.

Joel asks an intriguing question in verse 2:
"Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?"

This question might seem rhetorical, but I don’t think it is. Remember, Joel's name means Yahweh is God. He is asking, Have you forgotten that Yahweh is God? Have you grown apathetic toward this reality and brought judgment upon yourselves?

Does that scenario sound familiar to anyone? A time when someone refused to confess that Yahweh is God and was judged with a plague of locusts? Yes—Egypt. Pharaoh, in his stubbornness, refused to acknowledge Yahweh's authority. He elevated the Egyptian gods above Yahweh and would not let the Israelites go to worship their God. As a result, Egypt suffered many plagues, including a devastating plague of locusts that consumed their crops and left their land desolate.

This connection matters. The Israelites, God’s own covenant people, are now suffering the same kind of judgment that once fell upon Egypt. They have become, functionally, like Egypt—living in godlessness, disregarding God's presence.

An Inversion of Blessing

There's a fascinating inversion at play here. In Leviticus 11:22, locusts are actually listed as a permissible and beneficial food source. While it might seem strange to us, locusts were a common food in the ancient world. They’re high in protein, nutrient-dense, and were considered a good and lawful food source. In fact, if you lived on locusts for a while, you’d probably be quite healthy—low-carb, high-protein, and packed with nutrients.

But notice the inversion. When Israel was faithful to God, they were the ones who consumed the locusts. Now, because of their godlessness, the locusts are consuming them—or at least, their livelihood. The plague of locusts devours their crops, their sustenance, and their economy.

Godlessness doesn't just impact their spiritual lives; it unravels the very fabric of their society. Their crops, which form the foundation of their agricultural economy, are gone. Their societal stability is collapsing under the weight of this judgment.

Social Disruption and Decline

The second effect of Israel's godlessness is their societal disintegration. Joel 1:5 says:

"Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you wine drinkers, because of the sweet wine, for it has been taken from your mouth."

This isn’t primarily a rebuke of drunkenness, though the Bible does condemn it elsewhere. The command here is to wake up—to come out of their spiritual stupor and recognize the reality of their situation. Their apathy has left them oblivious to God's presence and their impending judgment.

And here's the irony: They don't really have a choice. The locust plague has already devastated their vineyards. The sweet wine is gone, not because they suddenly decided to sober up, but because their way of life has been forcibly stripped away.

Israel was an agrarian society. Everything—from daily sustenance to international trade—depended on agriculture. The locusts destroyed their grain, their vines, and their fruit trees. Even the livestock were at risk. Without grass to graze on, the animals would soon starve.

This agricultural collapse meant not only hunger but societal instability. The nation’s internal structure was crumbling, all because they had become apathetic toward God. They hadn’t replaced Yahweh with other gods as their ancestors had; instead, they simply stopped paying attention to him altogether. And the result was devastating.

The Israelites were starving, and even their animals were dying of hunger. With their crops gone, their ability to trade with other nations was cut off. Their economy collapsed, leaving them with nothing. The societal ramifications of this judgment were devastating.

Joel describes the severity of the situation in Joel 1:9-10:

"Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, who are ministers of Yahweh, mourn. The fields are destroyed; the land grieves. Indeed, the grain is destroyed; the new wine is dried up; the fresh oil fails."

This judgment didn’t just impact the people and their livelihoods—it also affected their worship. The priests could no longer offer the grain and drink offerings commanded in the Law. These offerings, which included grain cakes and wine poured on the altar, were acts of thanksgiving for God's provision. But now, God had withheld that provision due to their godlessness, making even these acts of worship impossible. Their disconnection from God had reached the very heart of their temple practices.

The Collapse of Agricultural Stability

Joel then turns his attention to the farmers. In Joel 1:11-12, he says:

"Be ashamed, you farmers; wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. The grapevine has dried up; the fig tree is withered. The pomegranate, the date palm, and the apple—all the trees of the orchard—have withered. Indeed, human joy has dried up."

The farmers were the foundation of Israel's agrarian society. Their job was to plant, tend, and harvest the fields. They were responsible for the sustenance of the nation, as well as the offerings that supported the temple’s worship. But now, their work was futile. The locust plague had devoured everything—wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, and olives. The collapse of the harvest meant not only hunger but also economic devastation.

This level of poverty was unlike anything we’ve experienced. Even the drunkards, whom Joel addresses earlier, were forced into sobriety. He says, "Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!" (Joel 1:5).

Now, this isn’t primarily a rebuke of drunkenness itself—though Scripture does condemn it elsewhere. Instead, it's a call to wake up and recognize the severity of their situation. They had grown numb, living in a sort of spiritual and societal stupor. But now, even if they wanted to drown their sorrows, they couldn’t.

Think about it. If someone goes to prison, they aren't supposed to have access to alcohol. Yet prisoners still find ways to make crude, fermented drinks from scraps like bread and ketchup. But in Israel, the situation was so dire that there wasn’t even a scrap left to ferment. There were no carbs, no fruit, no grapes—nothing. The land was utterly barren. That’s how severe this famine was.

The Generational Impact of Godlessness

The effects of their godlessness didn’t stop with the immediate crisis. There were long-term, generational consequences as well. In Joel 1:3, the prophet commands:

"Tell your children about this, and let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation."

Israel was a storied culture. They passed down their faith through narrative. The stories of God's power, like the Exodus, were meant to remind each generation that Yahweh is God. In Deuteronomy 6, parents are explicitly commanded to teach these stories to their children so that they will not forget Yahweh's faithfulness and power.

But somewhere along the way, Israel stopped telling these stories—or at least, they stopped believing them. They began to think that their success and provision came from their own efforts. They saw their harvests as the work of their own hands rather than God's gracious provision.

That mindset—this godlessness—had generational repercussions. When one generation neglects to teach their children to trust in and acknowledge God, those children grow up with a distorted perspective. They don't tell the stories to their own children, and the cycle continues. This is what Scripture means when it says that judgment falls on the second and third generation. It's not some arbitrary punishment—it's the natural consequence of spiritual neglect.

The Horizontal and Vertical Effects of Godlessness

Godlessness affects more than just the individual. There's a horizontal impact: our choices affect those around us. Whether we realize it or not, our behavior influences our families, friends, neighbors, and communities.

But there's also a vertical impact across generations. Our worldview—what we believe, what we value, how we live—is passed down, either explicitly through teaching or implicitly through example. If we live godlessly, failing to acknowledge God's hand in our daily lives, our children are likely to follow suit. But if we live with an awareness of God's presence, that faith can be passed down for generations.

Israel had forgotten that Yahweh is God. Their stories no longer reflected that truth. And as a result, they found themselves suffering judgment, not just in their own time, but also setting the stage for spiritual deterioration in future generations.

The lesson here is clear: Godlessness isn’t just about bowing to false gods. It’s about neglecting to acknowledge the true God in the everyday, ordinary aspects of life. And when we fail to do that, the consequences ripple outward—through society, through worship, and through generations to come.

So, after seeing the devastating effects of godlessness, the question becomes: How should we respond when God disciplines us for it? What should the Israelites have done when God disciplined them for their godlessness? And what should we do when we recognize that we, too, have walked in godlessness? Let's be honest—we all fall into that pattern at times.

When God disciplines us, there are three ways we should respond: mourning, humility, and appropriate reverence.

1. Mourning

First, we should mourn. Joel 1:13 says:

"Dress in sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God,
because grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God."

When we recognize that we've walked in godlessness, when we realize that the difficulties we're facing may stem from taking our eyes off Christ, the appropriate response is mourning. We should grieve our sin, acknowledging it for what it is.

When it comes to God's discipline, there are really only two ways to respond: mourning or anger. You can either mourn your sin with godly sorrow or become angry at the consequences and blame God. If you look back over your life, you can probably identify moments when you responded in both ways.

What separates the godly from the ungodly is often how they respond to God's discipline. The godly mourn their sin. When a believer realizes they've grown apathetic—when prayer feels mechanical, scripture reading becomes rare, and worship feels like a religious obligation rather than a joyful encounter with God—they mourn that loss. They grieve their spiritual dullness and long to return to the joy of the Lord.

But others, when facing God's discipline, respond with anger. They say, Why, God? Why would you let me go through this? I’m just trying to do my best. That anger leads to bitterness and defiance.

Romans 1:18 speaks to this very response:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness."

When people face the natural consequences of their sin, they often get angry at God. Rather than mourning, they suppress the truth and turn to false gods—whether literal idols or modern ones like success, money, or pleasure. This is the path of atheism: rejecting God out of resentment for his discipline.

But the godly don't respond with anger. They mourn their sin, recognizing it as the true source of their suffering.

2. Humility

The second response to God's discipline is humility. We don't just mourn our sin; we humble ourselves before the God who loves us enough to discipline us.

As a father, I sometimes have to discipline my kids. It's not easy. And there's a fine line in how a child responds. Sometimes, after discipline, a child gets angry and pulls away. But other times, even after being disciplined, that child returns to me for comfort. And that's the goal of godly discipline—that the child learns, but also knows that the person who disciplines them is the same one who loves and comforts them.

Now, think about how unnatural that feels. If you're speeding and a police officer pulls you over, you probably won't say, Thank you so much for humbling me with this ticket, Officer. No—our natural inclination is pride and defensiveness.

But God's discipline is different. He disciplines out of love, and when we humble ourselves, we find comfort in the very One who brought the discipline. God's discipline isn't punitive; it's restorative. It’s meant to draw us back to him.

Hebrews 12:6 reminds us:

"For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

God doesn't discipline us to cast us out; he does it to draw us back in. So when we face his discipline, we must come to him humbly—not resisting, not deflecting blame, but confessing our sin and trusting that his discipline is an act of grace.

3. Appropriate Reverence

The third response is to approach God appropriately. We come to him not only with mourning and humility but with a reverent awareness of who he is.

Joel 1:8 says:

"Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, mourning for the husband of her youth."

This is a striking image. In the ancient world, a young widow faced not just emotional loss but practical devastation. She had lost not only a beloved companion but also her security and livelihood. In that culture, women depended on their husbands for provision and protection. To lose a husband meant facing life without that support.

Now, in our modern context, strong, capable women often build successful, independent lives. They go to college, get good jobs, and thrive without depending on a husband for stability. But that wasn't the case in Joel's day. A young widow in ancient Israel experienced profound loss, a loss that reshaped her entire future. Her grief was raw and all-encompassing.

This is the posture we are called to adopt when we mourn our sin. We come to God with that same sense of loss and dependency. We acknowledge that without him, we are helpless—that our lives, our provision, and our spiritual sustenance depend entirely on his grace.

Joel uses this imagery to emphasize how we should feel when we recognize our godlessness. It's not a casual realization; it’s a gut-wrenching awareness that, apart from God, we have nothing.

The Generational Impact of Our Response

This posture of mourning, humility, and reverence doesn't just impact us personally—it also affects the generations that come after us. Joel warns the people to tell their children about this judgment so that future generations won’t repeat their mistakes.

We are a storied culture, just like ancient Israel. The narratives we tell ourselves and pass on to our children shape our identity. If we teach our children that success comes solely from hard work, without acknowledging God's provision, they will grow up thinking that godlessness is normal. But if we teach them to see God's hand in all things, they will learn to live with humility, gratitude, and faith.

In the ancient world, survival wasn’t something people could achieve alone—especially not women. Even men struggled to survive without the support of a household. But for a woman whose husband died, the situation was particularly dire, especially in Israel. Unlike in Greek or other ancient societies where remarriage might be more common, in Israel, a widowed woman was unlikely to marry again. It wasn't impossible, just unlikely.

Imagine this young woman whose husband has died—whether in battle, sickness, or a farming accident. She isn't only mourning the loss of the man she loved; she is mourning the loss of her very life. Her future is gone. She now has to return to her father's household, hoping he has the resources to take her and her children in. If he doesn't, she becomes a burden. No matter how hard she works, the weight of her circumstances will fall on the family.

This is the image Joel uses when he says we should grieve appropriately in response to God's discipline. When we walk in godlessness and experience God's discipline, we need to recognize the gravity of what we've lost. We've lost our true life—the life we have in God. We mourn, we humble ourselves, and we come before God with the awareness of how much we need him.

Preparing Our Hearts for Advent

And this is exactly where God wants us as we prepare for Advent. Advent is the season when we remember the coming of Christ—God taking on flesh to be the Savior of all humankind. But we won't fully appreciate the wonder of the incarnation unless we first grasp our own destitution.

The greater we mourn over our sin, the more we humble ourselves and recognize the vast chasm that separates us from God, the greater our wonder and joy when we behold Christ in his incarnation. As we prepare for Christmas, we first need to remember our deep, undeniable need for Jesus.

The title of this series, The Day of Yahweh, points us toward this truth. As we anticipate the day of Christ’s coming, we must remember why he came. He came to rescue us from the misery of godlessness.

So how should we respond to God's discipline for godlessness? We've talked about mourning, humility, and appropriate reverence. Now let's consider what that grief should produce in us.

What Should Grief Do for Our Relationship with God?

Joel 1:19 says:

"I call to you, Lord, for fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness, and flames have devoured all the trees of the orchard."

In response to the devastation of the locusts, Joel doesn't simply reflect or complain—he calls out to God. And this is our first response to grief: we should cry out to God in prayer.

And this isn’t a casual, checklist kind of prayer. This isn't the kind of prayer where we run through our list of requests while half-distracted. Joel uses the phrase "I call to you, Lord"—some translations say "I cry out to you". It’s a desperate, wholehearted appeal to God.

When you are truly aware of your destitution, you don't pray passively. When you're in pain, you cry out. You don't mumble polite phrases. You don't check off a prayer list. You call out to God with the urgency of someone drowning who knows that God alone can save them.

And here’s the beautiful part: even though God is the one who disciplines us, he is also the one we run to for comfort. Just like a child who, after being disciplined, still seeks comfort in the arms of their loving parent. God doesn't discipline to push us away; he disciplines to draw us back.

Grief Draws Us Closer to Each Other

But grief doesn’t only draw us closer to God—it also draws us closer to each other. In Joel 1:14, the prophet says:

"Announce a sacred fast; proclaim a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the residents of the land at the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord."

Joel calls for a communal response to this judgment. The priests were to lead the people in a sacred fast—a time when the entire community would come together to grieve, repent, and seek God's mercy.

Godlessness isn't just a personal issue; it affects the entire community. When a society turns away from God, everyone suffers. In the same way, when a church grows apathetic—whether it's our local congregation or the broader body of Christ—it’s time to come together and seek God's face.

This is why God gave his people rituals like fasting. Fasting isn’t about manipulating God into doing something for us. It's about participating together in a symbolic act of dependence on God. When we fast and pray as a community, we collectively acknowledge that our sustenance—both physical and spiritual—comes from God alone.

The Power of Ritual in Our Spiritual Lives

Joel’s call to a sacred fast highlights the importance of ritual in our relationship with God. Rituals aren't empty actions; they are tangible ways of participating in the story of God's redemption. When we come together to fast, pray, worship, and break bread, we are grounding ourselves in the reality of who God is and who we are in relation to him.

Rituals are, in a sense, a way of telling God's story with our bodies. They engage our hearts and minds, helping us internalize the truths we profess.

When we respond to God's discipline with mourning, humility, and reverence—when we cry out to him in prayer and come together as a community to seek his face—we place ourselves in the posture that God desires for us. And from that posture, we can better anticipate the hope of Advent: that in our darkest moments, God comes to us.

The Invitation of Advent

So as we look forward to the Advent season, let's do so with hearts prepared through mourning, humility, and appropriate reverence. Let us remember our desperate need for God's mercy and provision. And in doing so, we will more deeply appreciate the wonder of The Day of Yahweh—the day when Christ came to dwell with us, bringing hope to those who recognize their need for him.

The misery of godlessness is real. But God's grace is greater. And as we prepare for Advent, we are reminded that God's answer to our godlessness is not judgment alone—it is mercy, wrapped in flesh, born in a manger, and given to us as our Savior.

And so we call out to God—together. But there's one more response we need to consider: anticipation.

Look at Joel 1:15:

"Woe because of that day! For the day of Yahweh is near, and will come as devastation from the Almighty."

That word woe is significant. On Wednesday night at our Lake L.A. small group, we were reading Matthew 11, where Jesus pronounces woes on Chorazin and Capernaum. He says, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Capernaum!" The word woe isn’t just a warning; it expresses deep, gut-wrenching sorrow. Jesus was brokenhearted over their refusal to repent. He says, "If Sodom and Gomorrah had seen the miracles I performed here, they would have repented. But you have seen, and you still do not believe."

Now, consider this in light of the day of Yahweh. Joel’s warning about the day of the Lord was future for the Israelites. They looked ahead and saw only the promise of judgment if they didn't repent. And from our vantage point—on this side of the cross—we know that when the day of the Lord did come, Israel still didn’t repent. They rejected the Messiah and were ultimately responsible for Jesus' crucifixion.

What Is the Day of Yahweh (the LORD)?

This brings us to an important question: What exactly is the day of Yahweh? When we hear that phrase, we often think of Christ's second coming—and we’re not entirely wrong. But our understanding is incomplete if we only think about a single day.

In Scripture, day often means more than just a 24-hour period. If I said, "In the day of David, God's law was honored in Israel," you wouldn’t think of a single Tuesday in ancient Israel. You’d understand that I’m referring to an era—the entire period of David’s reign.

The same applies to the day of Yahweh. It doesn't refer to one single event. It refers to the entire era when Yahweh reigns through Christ. This day began with the incarnation—when Jesus came into the world as a baby in Bethlehem. It continues through his death, resurrection, ascension, and his present reign from heaven. And it will conclude when he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.

We are living in the middle of the day of Yahweh right now. This era of Christ's reign is the day of the Lord. And this is why the judgment Joel prophesied speaks to both past and future events. The plague of locusts that devastated Israel was a shadow of the judgment that came upon Jerusalem when it rejected Christ. And yet, it also points forward to the final day of judgment when Christ returns.

The day of Yahweh is not a single point in time. It is a long, unfolding era of God's reign through Christ. And during this day, humanity is called to respond—either with repentance or rejection.

How Will You Respond?

So, what about us? When you hear the gospel—that Jesus died for your sins, rose from the dead, and reigns as King—how will you respond? When you hear that Christ rules over all things and that he calls you to bow before him in faith, how will you come to him?

Will you come with mourning over your sin, recognizing your godlessness?
Will you come with humility, crying out to him for mercy?
Will you come appropriately, with reverence and gratitude for his grace?

Or will you respond with pride and rejection, like the Israelites who hardened their hearts and missed their Messiah?

Preparing for Advent

As we prepare for Advent, this is exactly the heart posture God wants from us: mourning, humility, and reverent anticipation. Advent isn't just a countdown to Christmas. It’s a season of preparation—a time to remember why Jesus came in the first place. And the more deeply we grasp our sin and our need, the more we will marvel at God's grace in the incarnation.

Here at Palmdale Church, we’ll spend the next four weeks walking through specific scriptures to help us focus on the significance of Christ’s coming. We'll reflect on God's promises, his faithfulness, and our desperate need for a Savior.

As we do every year, Jamie is putting together daily Advent readings for you to go through at home. We’ll have ornaments for the kids, crafts, and other activities to help you engage with the story of Christ’s coming. You can participate as much or as little as you’d like—but I strongly encourage you to commit to at least the daily readings.

If you’re someone who struggles with spiritual apathy—someone who easily forgets to seek Christ in daily life—this practice is especially important. Make the time to sit down, open the scriptures, and center your heart on Christ each day. Do it with your family if you can. But if no one else in your household can join you, then do it alone. The important thing is to daily remind yourself of the reality of Christ’s reign.

The Great Irony of the Christmas Season

The greatest irony for Christians during the Christmas season is how easily we lose sight of Christ.

December 1st hits, and suddenly we're in a frenzy. We’re scrambling to finish our shopping, schedule family gatherings, buy the roast for Christmas dinner, hang the lights, decorate the tree, and attend countless holiday events. We become consumed with celebrating Christmas, and in the process, we forget the very person we are celebrating.

Let’s not fall into that trap this year. Let’s commit to responding as Joel calls us to respond:

• With mourning over our sin and godlessness.

• With humility, recognizing our dependence on God's mercy.

• And with appropriate reverence, anticipating the day when Christ, who came as a baby, will return as King.

Let our grief over godlessness deepen our gratitude for the gospel. And as we approach Advent, may we prepare our hearts to behold the glory of the incarnate Christ—the one who came to rescue us from our sin, reigns even now, and will one day return to make all things new.

You've been there. We've all been there. And that’s exactly why we do this Advent season—to help us remember. To remember daily.

But remember, this isn’t something we do in isolation. We don’t just cry out to God on our own. We do this together. Advent is a communal, corporate practice. It’s all of us, as a church, crying out to God—not just on Sundays, but throughout the week. We walk through this season together, encouraging each other, praying together, and setting our hearts on Christ as one body.

Before December 1st, we’ll have the Advent materials ready for you. We’ll post them on the Band app, send them out by email, and do our best to make some print copies available as well. We want everyone to have access to these resources so we can celebrate this season with purpose and unity.

The day of Yahweh—the day of the Lord—was devastating for the Israelites. They experienced judgment because of their godlessness and their rejection of God's presence in their daily lives. But for us, the day of Yahweh doesn't have to be devastating.

If we humble ourselves, fix our eyes on Christ, and submit our lives to him, we will find joy in his coming. If we celebrate Jesus as King instead of mocking him like the crowd did when they called him the King of the Jews, we will experience the true hope and peace of Advent.

Joel—Yoel, Yahweh is God—is not a warning for us to fear if we are walking with Christ. It’s a reminder to rejoice. We serve the God who came to us, the God who reigns, the God who saves. So let us be blessed in that truth this Advent season.

Let me pray for us.

Prayer:

Lord, we come before you today so thankful for your Word. We're thankful for this warning from Joel, a message that still speaks powerfully to us today.

Help us not to be consumed by the busyness of daily life. Keep us from the sin of godlessness—from that apathetic state where we forget that every good thing we have is a gift from your hand.

Remind us daily that all our joy, all our provision, and all the goodness we experience in this world come from you—our God, our Creator, our Christ.

By your Holy Spirit, set this truth before us each day as we walk through this Advent season. Keep our hearts humble before you. Turn our eyes to Jesus, our King. And help us look forward with anticipation, not just to the celebration of his birth, but also to his return—to the fullness of the day of Yahweh.

We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and King.

Amen.