October 29, 2026 Devo

On September 11, 2001, I was speaking at Spiritual Life Emphasis Week at Mid-America Christian University. After I got up and showered, I came out to the living room of the family that was hosting me for the week. As I got my coffee, the wife said, “A plane hit one of the Twin Towers in New York.” Since I had a little time before I had to leave to go speak, I watched the news with her. That’s when the second plane hit. And suddenly the world knew. This was no accident. This was an attack.
Almost all of you reading this will remember where you were when these events happened. It was as though the world stopped. All airplanes were grounded. Fear swept across our country. Having flown into Oklahoma City from Phoenix, where I was a pastor at the time, I scrambled and got the last rental car available. Whatever I had planned for that Sunday’s message got thrown out as I tried to prepare something that would help our people find faith and hope in this time of crisis. But something unexpected happened that Sunday when I got to church. Our church was FULLER. There were a lot more people there than usual. I guess sometimes it takes a disaster to motivate people back to God.
That’s what our passage is about today. A locust plague has enveloped the country. Crops are gone. The land is being stripped bare. People are beginning to panic. What will they eat? What will they feed their children? How will they feed their animals? Then God prompts Joel to give the people an idea: Cry out to God! Tell the people to fast in humble surrender to God. Bring people together to worship and pray. The people had drifted a long way from God, and now it was time to come home. These proud, self-reliant people were brought low by a horde of tiny insects. It made them realize how truly weak and needy they really were.
Disasters shake us up. They make us feel unsteady and unsure. They rock our world and make us wonder what we can count on. Disasters also drive us back to God. And that’s a GOOD thing! God can comfort us in our times of crisis. His Hand can steady us. As we cry out to Him, He can give us strength and confidence, assurance and direction. If we’ve drifted from God, they remind us how desperately we need Him. So today, if you’re going through a time of crisis, a time of uncertainty, a time when your world feels like it’s coming apart at the seams, heed the words of Joel. Take time to seek God. Fall on your face and cry out to Him. Even if you haven’t been to church or talked to God in years, come home to Him. Let God give you a shoulder to lean on, a power to depend on, and a hope that He will see you through. Sometimes even the most powerful country in the world, or the strongest person in the world, needs to learn this important truth. We ALL need God—and need Him EVERY DAY! Too bad it often takes a disaster to remind us. That’s God’s Word for you today.