Joel

"I know that there are parts of your life you do not want to hand over to me, but that is alright. I have a plan anyway. Do not ever think that your plans or my plans are aligned. My will finds its way out. You may choose and not choose, and irregardless I AM. I am going to take the portion of your life you HAVE given me and do something so amazing, so unlike anything you could ever imagine, that you cannot help but give me everything you have or ever could dream of having. You will want to seek out things to place in my hands. Watch and see."




These were the words that God was speaking to me as I was driving back to college today. I recognize there are parts of me that I, for some reason, cannot seem to just let God work out. I think this is such a clear revelation to my painting and what God was saying in Joel, yet it is something applicable for me and my own life. I recommend you read the book of Joel personally and to understand the thought behind the painting and my blog. God was sending a message to his people about giving there lives to him. The majority of them only gave a portion of there life to him, and so they were going to be punished...BUT, the most beautiful characteristic of God is that is an unlimited being. My decisions do not limit him or his plan in anyway. He can either work through me or around me. The same goes for the people in Joel. God could still do an amazing even through their denial of him.

This quote is from the first chapter.

"The Devastation of Locusts The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers' days? Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation. What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten. Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness."

This is part of the inspiration for my painting. The locuts that devour the land are discribed as a band of soldiers. They even go on to say that when they come they sound like chariots approaching. I imagined looking at the locusts and painting what I would imagine seeing. From far away they would seem like soldiers but the closer they flew, the more they became like locusts.

"Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they run. With a noise as of chariots They leap on the tops of the mountains, Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble, Like a mighty people arranged for battle. Before them the people are in anguish; All faces turn pale. They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like soldiers" (This is part of chapter two)

There is always hope with God. He promises it to the people who seek His face:

"Then I will make up to you for the years That the swarming locust has eaten, The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you. "You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame. "Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the LORD your God, And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame."