“I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:29, NIV)
The theology of a teenager is probably not the safest place to buy stock in who God is or in how he gets things done.
In Joel’s prophecy, all who called on the name of the Lord would be saved; in Peter’s application, the Lord was Jesus.This was certainly true of my way of thinking, even into college. And it was probably especially true when it came to golf. I really wanted to tell God that I was eager for Jesus to return. “That would be so cool!” I would essentially pray. But then I would go on: “You know what would be even cooler, though, Lord? If you waited until after we get to play in the national championship next week!”
If it wasn’t some tournament I was looking forward to, it was a special course on my calendar to play. I so wanted the Day of the Lord to come—and yet I also wanted it to wait just a little bit longer.
Big days are interesting. In one way, we feel as though they’ll never get here. Often, we can’t wait till they do—so we can enjoy them for their pleasure or get them behind us because of their pain. Today, a day when a new President of the United States will be elected, will be feel like pain for some and pleasure for others.
But here’s the odd thing. Today has also come just like any other day. It crept in at midnight, likely while you were sleeping. It will slide out with the night, too. And when you awake tomorrow morning, you will probably feel like nothing has changed so much after all. You’ll get up as you normally do, brush your teeth, tie your shoes. You might play golf with your friends or go to dinner with old acquaintances.
When Peter stood before the amazed masses in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost as described in Acts 2, he notably quoted the prophet Joel. To begin his words were astounding: “The Spirit will be poured out on all people.” This was Joel’s prophecy of the last days, and Peter was applying it to that day and those people. What a day indeed!
But the newly empowered apostle went on, still drawing from Joel, with a much more foreboding consideration of the day: “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.” It’s not a direct quote. Where Peter planted the word glorious, Joel’s Hebrew was more akin to awesome or dreadful. Either way, this was no tame day. God was rendering all things new through Peter’s sermon. In Joel’s prophecy, all who called on the name of the Lord would be saved; in Peter’s application, the Lord was Jesus, who did signs and wonders, died for the sins of the people, and was raised to life.
This was a day that had come in like any other, yet it set the stage for all days to come. No earthly election can do that! The Spirit was there for all who believed; the Spirit is here for you and me. We can see our own days change by calling on the name of the Lord.
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Jeff Hopper
November 8, 2016
Copyright 2016 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.