Church, thank you for reading through the Minor Prophets with us.
We’ll be taking a break from this series during Lent, but you’ll still be able to find previous reflections on our Minor Prophets Reading Plan page! And if you’ve missed any sermons on the 12 Minor Prophets, you can watch those here at anytime.
Luberva Bressler: Joel
Joel 1:9-10 says, “Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the Lord. The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails.”
In verse 11, as Jonathan said in his sermon, the farmers are to grieve for all of these things they have lost. And we too must respond to tragedy by grieving and turning to God with our whole hearts, rather than using other strategies to attempt to avoid the hurt.
What is something I grieve about right now? In 2013, my father passed away in England having Leukemia. Then in 2015, unexpectedly, my brother passed away. I was not able to attend the funeral for him. I wasn’t able to say goodbye to him. I never fully grieved the loss of my brother.
Now, I deeply grieve the health of my 92 year old mother who has Parkinson’s and declining health. My sister, who is her caretaker, does as much as she can, and God has provided other caretakers to help my sister. I am sad that I can’t be in England to help my mother in her old age. I grieve to not hug, touch or just sit by her.
I do thank the Lord for being so faithful, compassionate, caring and loving beyond our understanding to take care of them.
Is there a loss in your past that you’ve never really grieved?
