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So what would God require of us today? How do we navigate these turbulent times? Where do we turn for answers?

I look at Joel 2:12 and I can discern the heartbeat of the Lord and find some direction for my life.

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

"Return to me," says the Lord. Turn back, abandon the way you were going and return. Turn away from the activities, places and conditions that overtook you. And do it with all of your heart. Not partially but with everything, your mind, your will and your emotions. This is with all of your heart.

And then declares the Lord, "with fasting, weeping, and with mourning." This is a process of humbling ourselves in the presence of a loving God.

Fasting is a denial of physical needs. It is a sacrifice of sorts and requires a disciplined approach. Self-denial is not pleasant by any means. I think of Paul as he penned Romans 12:1, "present your bodies as a living sacrifice."

Weeping is the shedding of tears with deep sobbing. Job gives us an example of what this means. In Job 16:16 we read, "My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness;"

And then mourning. This goes much deeper than weeping. think of what happens when one is told a loved one has passed away. The grief is often so deep and so gripping, filling with sorrow at the loss. This is the deepest representation of humility. In the book of Esther 4:3 we read, "and in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes."

The Lord is looking for His people to repent when crisis strikes. This very act of contrition by individuals, and then groups, and possibly a nation, can change the course of events. The Lord is asking for your heart to return to Him. For your whole being to turn back. This requires persistence until breakthrough is reached.

Are you willing?

I have to be honest with you as I write. In my times of prayer and Bible study, I return over and over to the idea of the watchman. The prophets were used as a watchman by God to warn the people of danger. Watchmen were used in ancient times upon the walls to warn the people in the cities of dangers.  

The danger that we see today in the spiritual realm is not entirely recognizable, yet we know there is danger. Every day in the news, no matter what media you access, there are wars, protests, COVID numbers (infections and deaths), political attacks, fires, drastic weather changes, global issues, and much more negative news.

What God is doing is difficult to discern. Yet, in my heart, I sense that He is withholding His providential care in the world today. When God pulls back His hands of protection, it generally calls His people to return to Him in repentance. The clouds of judgment are forming, and I wonder if we are paying attention.

What I can urge you to do, until the day we understand this season we are in (spiritually discerned), we should return to our knees in prayer, raising a lamentation over our neglect of and disobedience to God.

Jeremiah, at the directive of God, told the people of Israel, "And you shall say to them, This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips." Jeremiah 7:27–28 (RSVCE)

The solution is recorded in Joel 2:12-13, "Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (ESV)

Will you lament over the crisis we are facing? Will you return to God with all of your heart? Will you fast and pray? The time is now.