Joel 2:17\u201318 \u2013 \u201cLet the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, \u2018Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach\u2026\u2019 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the face of crisis and judgment, Joel called the nation back to the altar with one desperate plea: \u201cSpare Your people, O Lord.\u201d It was not a demand\u2014it was a cry of mercy, a covenant appeal for divine compassion. The situation was dire, but the hope was in God\u2019s character.<\/p>\n
God is moved by genuine intercession. When His people weep between the porch and the altar\u2014between public duty and private devotion\u2014He responds. Verse 18 marks the shift: \u201cThen the Lord will be zealous\u2026 and pity His people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, believers must return to that place of prayer and brokenness. It\u2019s not enough to observe\u2014we must intercede. When we cry out for mercy over judgment, heaven listens. God still spares, heals, and restores when His people cry out.<\/p>\n
Further Readings:
\n2 Chr 7:14
\nLam 3:22\u201323
\nRom 9:15\u201316<\/p>\n
\ud83d\ude4f Blessed Week \ud83d\ude4f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joel 2:17\u201318 \u2013 \u201cLet the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, \u2018Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach\u2026\u2019 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people.\u201d In the face of crisis and judgment, Joel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6586,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584\/revisions\/6586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}