The Book of Joel: Post for 9/21/2010

So often we hear quotes from the Bible that are taken out of context. I didn't think that I had ever heard anything out of the book of Joel until I came across a frequently quoted piece of scripture, "And your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions". Just before that statement are the words, "It will come about after this that I will pour out my Spirit on mankind". What came before? What was the prerequisite for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? In the previous section of scripture we see that the people had been delivered from the troubles they had been facing. God was blessing them for returning to Him and staying with Him. As I continue to look back further I start to see all of the different trials they went through. It speaks of darkness and gloom. There was starvation and drought. There were locusts that came. Am I saying that, in order to receive the Holy Spirit, all of these things have to happen? Of course not!! I am just trying to say that some people expect it to be so easy to receive prophecies and visions and dreams when in reality it isn't. In order for God to bestow upon the people in the book of Joel these gifts they had to go through a lot. When we come to God and He puts us through trials and tests it helps us grow. I think He is building us up so that we can handle the tremendous responsibility these gifts are. I also think that, though we don't go through actual starvation and drought and darkness, we get something like it. We all go through dry places in our walk with God (drought) and sometimes we feel He isn't giving us what we need(starvation). Sometimes we can even think that God isn't there (darkness). Sometimes the enemy tries to find ways to attack us, often through things or people that are important to us (locusts). I believe that when we get through these trials we come out stronger and God blesses us for staying with Him.