stuff i think

Cataclysmic Thoughts of the Day

Joel 2:28-31
28 "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD .

I think I'm beginning to figure out why I'm so big on the Old Testament prophets. It's the seeming contradictions. Take the passage above...I've read it so many times that I can almost quote it...you've got your prophesying sons and daughters, your dreaming old men, your fire and smoke and bloody moon...sounds like the best and worst of history all rolled into a few verses.

Those reading this from the tidy confines of the Information Pod at the Assisted Living Home for Quickly Aging Baby Boomers are probably irked at this sort of thing. First of all, it doesn't outline well. Additionally, it seems to indicate that God is both wonderfully pleased and horrifically ticked at the same time. It's hard to read this passage and formulate a nice boomer message with three points on how to be a better employee and achieve happiness on the job. No, the OT Prophets are not modernists. They're premoderns...which reads suspiciously like postmodern, and I love it.

God manifesting himself on earth is bound to have some hellacious reactions from humanity. To some, it will be an incredible time...to others, well, the prophet calls it dreadful. That dichotomy isn't a reflection of God's character, but more of an indication of our preparation for His decision to move. Young men, young women...get ready. The great and dreadful day is coming...both judgement and mercy in one fell swoop.