“”Even now”, declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Joel 2:12
There is not much in this life that promises more bittersweetness than our tomorrows. Sometimes the promise of a tomorrow is so full of joy that it robs us of our sleep, our psyches so stimulated for the coming day that the body is already gearing up to process the goodness. Yet, on other occasions, our tomorrows can contain such great worry and turmoil that the mind cannot focus on anything else but the forthcoming turbulent hours. But as we focus on either the promise or the problems of our tomorrows, where does that leave our today? Is it possible to be so preoccupied with our tomorrows that we neglect the true importance of our today?
The prophetical book of Joel is short, only three chapters. But as the old saying goes, good things come in small packages, and thus we find a wealth of Godly wisdom, warning, and promise held within the scant 73 verses. Yet as I study through chapter two this morning, one particular verse rings out like a clanging bell into my being. As the people of the Lord have backslidden into idolatry, sexual immorality, murder, and hatred and abuse of each other, the Lord attempts to bring them back to Himself. And in this particular reconciliatory effort, the Lord brings a mighty swarm of locusts to ravage the land. And as the army of locusts consume everything in sight, the Lord speaks powerful words of repentance to His people. And the Words the Lord speaks have absolutely nothing to do with their tomorrow…solely do they place the emphasis upon the here and now.
“”Even now”, declares the Lord, “return to me…” Joel 2:12a
Let’s have a time of reflection shall we? Consider the following question deep in your being. And give yourself an adequate, even an uncomfortable amount of time to ponder your answer. Here’s your question…where are you at with God today? Are you where you want to be? Do you feel close to Him or distant? Do you feel He is a good God or merely a cosmic traffic cop waiting to deal you yet another seemingly stiff fine the next time you mess up? Are you close to Him through a daily study of His Word or does the Bible seem cold and foreign to you? Do you reach out to Him in prayer or do you feel that your past requests uttered to Him somewhere in the Heavens never seem to get answered to your liking? Or, the most important question…do you even know God at all?
Being a Christian missionary, my job is to tell people the Biblical truth about God. Specifically that our sin separates us from a Loving God that wants to have a relationship with us. And the only way to have that relationship is through the sacrifice, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet, on way too many occasions I field responses such as, I need to think about it more, maybe later. Or, maybe tomorrow, I’ve got plenty of time to make a decision about God. Folks, even though our tomorrows seem close enough to touch, they are in fact an eternity away. And acknowledging just this very fact, the Lord sums up His timetable for us getting right with Him in crystalline clarity in Joel 2:12…”even now.”
What tomorrow are you waiting for to get right with God? What tomorrow are you waiting for to invest in a deep, personal, daily study of His Word? What tomorrow are you waiting for to start faithfully attending and serving in a local Bible teaching church, allowing the fellowship of the body of Christ to nurture you? And most importantly, what distant tomorrow are you waiting for to finally admit that you have sinned, do sin, and will continue to sin in the future? That as much as you try you can’t control those sinful thoughts and the eventual physical actions they are destined to create? But friends, because God so love the world, He made a way that all can be saved not tomorrow, but today. You see, there is a bridge that spans that great sin-chasm between you and God. There is one single bridge that will allow you to one day make the journey to God’s home in heaven…and that single bridge is the cross of Christ. All you need to do today to be saved from the death of your sin is to confess your sin before the Lord and in great faith admit that Jesus is who He says He is, can do what He says He can do, and will redeem any and all that call upon Him in that faith.
Even now. Return to the Lord. No matter if you’re calling on Him for the first time for salvation or for the 100th time to confess your sins to Him and reconcile the relationship, the time is now. Not in some distant tomorrow…even now.
Rich blessings to each of you ~ Dan
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