December 9

Today's Reading

Joel. It may sound silly to you that almost two long chapters in this little book are devoted to a vivid description of being overrun by a swarm of locusts. Believe me, it was far from silly in an economy based almost completely upon agriculture. Where I live, it's easier to imagine the devastation caused if acre after acre was stripped bare, the little insects continuing to multiple as they march. Instead of growing smaller as they attack, they grow larger and larger. Perhaps we felt a tiny bit of the terror and confusion when our banking system and stock markets began to crash in 2008. "Repent," God says, "and I will destroy the destroyers. Then I will restore to you the years that the locust has taken away." It's a favorite promise for many.

Another promise from Joel is the one that is quoted in Acts; the promise that God will pour out His Spirit on all "in the last days." Since Christ came, all who call upon Him for salvation receive the Spirit of God.

Revelation. First, let's clarify that the name of this book is "Revelation" and not "Revelations." It is, first and foremost, the revealing of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is full of both symbolism and apocalyptic language. The author, John, is the same John who wrote the fourth Gospel and the three little letters (we just read them) that bear his name. He was a captive audience as he saw and wrote down what he saw in this book. When he wrote, "It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit," I believe it literally means that he was worshiping and was taken "in Spirit" to see the things that would happen as the earth comes to its final judgment.

This is the first intimate conversation we have recorded between John and Jesus since the cross. In the former, Jesus said to John, "Son, behold your mother." In this one, John falls down as dead before the exalted Lord. You and I will, too!

Psalms. To "fear" God in this instance means to hold Him in awe and the deepest respect. It means that He is in charge, no matter what. O, how He loves to bless us when we live that way!

Proverbs. Boy, is that the truth!

What is speaking to you today?