Prophets give wake-up call to Good News

“A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness.”
‭‭Joel‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/jol.1.6.niv

Fully conscious I was not.  To know I didn't need to be aware of the world.  I knew.  It was my only clear thought in the anaesthetic fog. I had heard of the invader.  Now I had to deal with that invader.  I recognized the teeth of that lion.  It was time to wake up and face that lion.

The Old Testament prophets, like Joel, delivered "wake-up calls."  Verse 5 even begins with "wake up".  It seems the prophets were full of doom and gloom.  Yet within each message is hope.  One needs to peer through the fog of gloom to find it.

Prophets deliver an amazing message.  In spite of human stubbornness there is hope.  If we lose our stubborn thirst for "wanting what we want" ignoring the future implications of our selfish choices, hope is waiting.

Prophets give us the path to find that message of good news, once the message of the invasion of evil becomes clear to us.  Later in the book Joel issues the call to stop doing evil, change the direction of the heart and follow God.  The promise of safety is with God.

The night before my invader had a name, I had found the comfort of good news.  In my panic, I tried to read.  God spoke to me in one particular paragraph of that book.   All I needed to know was He was God.  He was in control.  I was not in control. He could handle the lion. I had hope.


I like waking up, every morning, because I can.
I like waking up because God is in control, even though I have my "to-do" list.
I like waking up to find the Good News in each day.
I like waking up to His Hope.

Almost 18 years and counting!