Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone

Joel 1:9-13 describes how the plague of locusts, sent by God as both judgment and warning of further judgment, had destroyed the grain fields and vineyards, leaving the people no way to offer the required grain or drink offerings to God.  My first thought upon reading those verses was, "Why would God, in response to His people's failure to worship Him, wipe out the very resources they needed to worship Him?  Why would He, in essence, prevent them for doing what He was calling them to do?"

As I pondered that enigma, several verses began rolling through my mind:

• Revelation 2: 5 –  "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."

• Matthew 5:23-24 – "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

• Psalm 51:16-17 – "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

What I realized (or re-realized) was that God is more interested in lifestyle worship than liturgical worship.  Form & function must take a back seat to the fear of God and true obedience.  I think that should be more than a little sobering to us as we live where "Sunday morning best" refers less and less to apparel and more and more to behavior.  We put on our "good self" to go to church and (presumably) worship, then spend the rest of the week living like the pagans around us.

So would God ever judge His people today like He did in Joel's day?  Granted, the plague of locusts was covenant-based and a direct fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28:42 so I wouldn't expect that specific judgment.  It probably wouldn't have the same effect anyway, as our worship is not tied to the offering of grain and wine at the temple.  But might God change our landscape so drastically that the rituals of worship we take for granted are suddenly unavailable or severely costly to us?

Growing up through the tail end of the Cold War, it was fairly common to hear speakers talk about what it would be like for Christians in America if the Communists ever took over.  I even remember a chapel session being raided by camouflaged soldiers with guns and funny accents threatening to shoot anyone who didn't renounce Christ.  (Probably the most fun those dressed up camp counselors ever had!)

Now don't think I'm turning into an apocalyptic doomsday prophet here, but the way things are going in our world, I wonder if we need a little of that "shock & awe" to wake us up today.  If we found ourselves – by natural disaster, government proclamation, foreign invasion or any other means –  without the ability to meet in a sanctuary, project song lyrics, plug in a guitar or carry out other activities we've come to associate with worship, what would we have left?

My prayer is that we'd have hearts full of love, heads full of Scripture, and lives full of obedience so we could continue, or perhaps return to, worshiping God in spirit and in truth – even if not in a church building.