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Joel 1 – a Swarm of Locusts!

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Joel 1 – a Swarm of Locusts! Joel 1 – A Swarm of Locusts! We need to be able to find the book of Joel in the Joel 1 has lots about locusts. Bible! Find a contents page and have a look at the Old Testament bit. There are 39 books, and they fall into Let’s find out why they cause so much trouble. Have you ever seen flying ants? There tend to be groups. ever so many of them one day and they get The first group is called the Pentateuch (what’s that everywhere, and then just as suddenly they’ve got to do with a pentagon?) and tells the story from gone. It’s called swarming. The same thing Creation until God’s people get to the Promised Land. happens to grasshoppers – all of a sudden, one day Next come 12 historical books, telling the history of there will be very many swarming grasshoppers, God’s people. Then another group of 5, these are and they’re called locusts. But locusts are bigger poetry and ‘wisdom’ books. The rest of the Old than ants, and much, much hungrier. In fact, a Testament is the books of the Prophets. The first few locust can eat its own weight in one day, and a are long, so they’re called major prophets, and the swarm can contain millions or even billions of rest are shorter, so they’re called minor prophets. locusts. So when a swarm of locusts lands in a field Joel is the second minor prophet. of crops, everything green disappears and just bare stalks are left. How many books are in the Pentateuch? …………… Locusts are found in countries all round the world, What sort of book is Proverbs? ………………………….. and even a small swarm can cover several square Name a major prophet ……………………………………….. miles and will weigh thousands of tons. Which books come before and after Joel? ………….. Do you remember a famous plague of locusts in ……………………………………………………………………………… the Bible? (Clue: think about Moses) Look at Joel 1. What does Joel say the locusts have eaten? (v7,10,11,12) ………………………………………………………………………………………………… How does Joel say the people should react? (v5,8,11,13,14) …………………………………………………………………………………………….. Natural disasters sometimes happen anyway, but sometimes they are sent by God. Joel thinks the locusts have been sent by God, because of what God said in Deuteronomy 28. (Deuteronomy is in the Pentateuch) Read Deut 28 v1-6 to find God’s blessings for obedience. Now read v15-19 to see what happens to thise who don’t obey. Carry on with v38-42. What do you think? Had they been obedient or disobedient? ………………………………………………………………………………………….. They loved the things God gave them more than they loved God, and their worship had become dry and meaningless. Joel warns them that the locust invasion might be just the beginning – it could get much, much worse! What does Joel say they should do about it? (v14) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Since Jesus came, we have a new covenant, and God has made different promises to us. He doesn’t promise us crops and food any more, but he still expects our obedience. Can you think of some things that God does promise us? …………………………………………………………………………………………………. What sort of things might we be tempted to love more than God? ………………………………………………………………………………….. Sometimes bad things just happen in our lives, but occasionally God might let something happen as a warning to us that we have become disobedient. The best way to react is to do what Joel told the people in his day to do in v14, cry out to the Lord. Look up 1 John 1v9, near the end of the New Testament, to find out what happens when we do that. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. .
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