People who live in Waco know all about the annual cricket invasion. Like a plague in Egypt, the crickets swarm in from who knows where and cover the ground. They fill up the stairwells in the dormitories and apartments. They don’t do any real damage, but they are annoying.
In the ancient world of the Bible, the locusts came in like an army. They darkened the sky and devoured the crops. The locusts left devastation in their wake. Joel compared the invading enemy armies to the locusts. They wreaked havoc and destroyed the people of God. God used the enemies of his people to bring judgment on their sin.
How should the people of God respond to his chastisement? Joel calls on the priests and elders to mourn over their sin, declare a holy fast, and cry out to the Lord. Our best and only right response to judgment is repentance. We turn away from our sin and cry out to God in prayer. Repentance offers hope of restoration,
