The Prayer God Answers | Joel
By Rev. Jeremiah Cheung
From Joel 2:12-20
2:12 “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing—grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. 16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. 17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
18 Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people. 19 The Lord replied to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. 20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.”
When you look at this passage carefully, you will discover something wonderful. In verses 12-17, the Lord taught the people how to pray; and in verses 18-20, we see how these prayers were answered by God. The Bible says, “Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people.” The Lord blessed his people and defeated the enemies who had come to attack them. I hope you understand God’s intentions, how willing He is to listen to our prayers, and how willing He is to help us. But God is not only loving; he is also a just God. We must meet God’s righteous requirements before He will hear us and stretch out His mighty hand to help us. Having seen the Lord teach the Israelites how to pray in verses 12-17, we can be assured that as long as we pray in line with His teachings, then our prayers are in accordance with His will.
These verses tell us three things:
1. Everyone must confess and repent sincerely.
Joel 2:13 “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” The Lord did not want them to simply rend their garments, which is a Jewish practice demonstrating external repentance and symbolizing the people’s acknowledgment of their sins and their repentance. More than a ritual, more than an external demonstration, the Lord sought inner repentance from them. That is why the Lord asked them to rend their hearts and return to the Lord their God.
Church, isn’t this how we ought to repent? It’s easy for us to admit our wrongdoing but our hearts may not be remorseful. As a result, we sin again and again, and we cry again and again, yet we keep returning to our sins. How come? Because we only rend our garments and not our hearts.
2. Everyone throughout the nation must sincerely confess their sins and repent.
Joel 2:15 “Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.” Joel 2:16 “Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those who are nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.”
The Lord wants them to blow their trumpets and gather everyone from all over the nation, even the elders, the children, and the babies nursing at their mother’s breast. Does this sound strange? What sins would the babies have? And even the bride and groom are also called to come out. Can there be anything more important for a just married couple than to enjoy their newly-wedded bliss? Why are they told to come out of their bridal chamber?
The Lord is telling the people across the nation that they must not keep pointing their fingers at others or assume that only others have sinned, that they must stop thinking that something else is more important than repenting from their sins. The whole nation should sincerely confess their sins and repent because everyone is culpable!
3. Pray for the glory of God’s name.
Joel 2:17 “Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
The Lord taught the priests to pray and he reminded them that they must not allow his inheritance to be scorned, to be mocked by the nations, that it should not be said among the peoples, “Where is their God?” When the Israelites are scorned then the name of the Lord is brought down in shame along with them.
Church, the ultimate focus of prayer is not us, it is to bring glory to God’s name!
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蒙神垂聽的禱告 | 約珥書
張國強牧師
約珥書 2:1-14
2:12 耶和華說, 雖然如此, 你們應當禁食, 哭泣, 悲哀, 一心歸向我。13 你們要撕裂心腸, 不撕裂衣服; 歸向耶和華你們的神, 因為他有恩典, 有憐憫, 不輕易發怒, 有豐盛的慈愛, 並且後悔不降所說的災。14 或者他轉意後悔, 留下餘福, 就是留下獻給耶和華你們神的素祭,和奠祭, 也未可知。
15 你們要在錫安吹角, 分定禁食的日子, 宣告嚴肅會, 16 聚集眾民使會眾自潔, 招聚老者, 聚集孩童和喫奶的, 使新郎出離洞房, 新婦出離內室。17 事奉耶和華的祭司, 要在廊子和祭壇中間哭泣, 說: 耶和華阿! 求你顧惜你的百姓, 不要使你的產業受羞辱, 列邦管轄他們, 為何容列國的人說: 他們的神在哪裡呢?
18 耶和華就為自己的地發熱心, 憐恤他的百姓 19 耶和華應允他的百姓, 說: 我必賜給你們五穀, 新酒和油, 使你們飽足, 我也不再使你們受列國的羞辱; 20 卻要使北方來的軍隊遠離你們, 將他們趕到乾旱荒廢之地, 前隊趕入東海, 後隊趕入西海, 因為他們所行的大惡, 臭氣上升, 腥味騰空。
當我們好好思想這段經文的時候, 你會發現一件很奇妙的事, 12-17節是神教導百姓要怎樣的禱告; 18-20節是神聽了這樣禱告的結果。聖經說: 耶和華就為自己的地發熱心, 憐恤他的百姓。然後神就賜福給百姓, 打敗要來攻擊以免列的敵人。我希望你們能明白神的心意, 祂是何等願意垂聽我們的禱告, 祂是何等願意幫助我們, 但神是慈愛也是公義的, 我們必須要乎合神公義的要求, 祂才能垂聽我們的禱告, 伸出祂大能的手來幫助我們。既然12-17節是神教導以色列人的禱告, 只要我們遵照祂的心意去禱告, 這當然就是合乎祂的心意了, 這段經文告訴我們三件事:
1. 每個人都要真誠的認罪悔改。
2:13 你們要撕裂心腸, 不撕裂衣服; 歸向耶和華你們的神, 因為他有恩典, 有憐憫, 不輕易發怒, 有豐盛的慈愛, 並且後悔不降所說的災。神不要他們只撕裂衣服, 這是猶太人在外面的表現, 代表他們知錯, 認罪了; 但神要不單是外表的儀式, 祂更要是內心的悔改, 所以神要他們撕裂心腸, 歸向耶和華他們的神。
教會, 這豈不是我們要悔改的地方嗎? 我們口很容易承認錯了, 但心裡卻沒有多大的反應, 結果我們一次又一次的犯罪, 眼淚流了一次又一次, 但卻是三番兩次的犯罪, 為什麼? 因為只撕裂了衣服, 沒有撕裂心腸。
2. 全國人民都要真誠的認罪悔改。
2:15 你們要在錫安吹角, 分定禁食的日子, 宣告嚴肅會, 2:16 聚集眾民使會眾自潔, 招聚老者, 聚集孩童和喫奶的, 使新郎出離洞房, 新婦出離內室。
神要他們吹角, 聚集全國的人民, 裡面提到有老者, 有孩童, 甚至喫奶都要出來, 這不是很奇怪嗎? 嬰孩有什麼罪呢? 而且新郎新婦也要出來, 有什麼比新婚更重要呢? 為什麼要出來呢?
神在告訴全國人民, 不要以為都是別人的錯, 不要以為有別的事比認罪悔改更重要, 全國人民都要真誠的認罪悔改啊! 因為國家盛亡, 人人都責。
3. 要神的名神的榮耀而禱告。
2:17 事奉耶和華的祭司, 要在廊子和祭壇中間哭泣, 說: 耶和華阿! 求你顧惜你的百姓, 不要使你的產業受羞辱, 列邦管轄他們, 為何容列國的人說: 他們的神在哪裡呢? 神教導祭司禱告說: 不要使你的產業受羞辱, 列邦管轄他們, 為何容列國的人說: 他們的神在哪裡呢? 因為這不單使以色列人蒙羞, 連神的名也蒙羞了。
教會, 禱告最終的目不是為我們, 乃是為神的名得榮耀啊!