What do you do when the ground gives way beneath you and the world seems to stop, after a diagnosis, a loss, a disaster nobody saw coming? This sermon moves from the empty streets of a locked-down city and the ruins of post-war Warsaw to a short prophetic book, Joel (Joel 1), which describes a nation stripped of everything by a plague of locusts. Strikingly, the prophet neither looks for someone to blame nor explains the disaster as punishment; he points instead to the God whose name is I Am. Listen if you are looking for hope precisely when nothing feels certain any more.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Joel 1:1-20 the prophet describes locusts, drought and empty altars in the temple, then calls priests, farmers and even wine drinkers to weep. What does this passage show about how the disaster reached every part of Israel's life?
- The prophet does not present the locusts as punishment for a specific sin; instead he calls for a fast, a gathering in the house of the Lord and crying out to God. What does this response tell us about how the first hearers were meant to understand their calamity?
- The sermon recalls empty streets during lockdown, the ruins of Warsaw and the story of Marek, whose father died of cancer. When has the ground given way beneath you, and what happens to your relationship with God in such times?
- The speaker stresses that the moment the world stands still can be the best time to stop focusing on ourselves and turn to the Almighty. What practically keeps you from seeking God first in a crisis?
- In Joel the Day of the Lord sounds like destruction, yet for God's people it is a day of deliverance. How does this promise change the way you look at the difficulties you are facing right now?
- Instead of fear, anger or resignation, the sermon encourages us to listen less to the noise coming from outside and more to what God is saying. What is one concrete step you can take this week to live that way?
