Text: Joel 2:1218

Topic: How God gently calls us back to him no matter how much we've messed up.

Illustration: Bell tells in great detail the story of Jim Carlton, a Christian, who had it good in business, marriage, and family, but then had an affair and lost everything — his wife, his family, his reputation. He asked his pastor, "How did it all go wrong?"

• The Israelites had a covenant with God, and as they kept it, the nation prospered.
• Solomon married foreign women, and pagan practices and idolatry came along. Everything went downhill, and the people wondered, "How did it all go wrong?"
• The prophets called God's people back to God:
• • Isaiah: "Return to me. I have redeemed you."
  • Jeremiah: "I will give them a heart to know me. . . . Let us return to the Lord."
  • Hosea: "Come, let us return to the Lord. . . . He will heal us."
  • Malachi: "'Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the Lord."
  • Joel: "Return to the Lord, for he is gracious and compassionate." In Joel's time, the land was plagued with locusts, and Joel understood it as God's judgment. That's how Jim Carlton felt about the losses in his life.

• 1. That he is a mean, vindictive spoilsport who wants to keep us from having fun.
• 2. That he really doesn't care about what we do, and he'll forgive us no matter what.

• This is clearly illustrated in the parables of the lost coin, lost sheep, and lost son.
• God wants us to keep our agreements with him, but forgives us when we don't.

• If we graded him on how he kept his promises to his wife, children, church, and God, he'd get an F. He did keep his promises to his bank, country club, and civic club.
• He knew where he'd erred: He hadn't taken seriously his covenant with God.
• He wept tears of remorse and repentance, claimed forgiveness, and returned.