Joel is a powerful Old Testament book about revival. God is calling for his people’s hearts to be awakened to once again love him with all their they are, in lovesick pursuit of His presence, offering Him once again the the only sacrifice He’s ever longed for from us; radical obedience for love’s sake.
Deut.4:24, “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Joel 2:3 “A fire consumes before them
And behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them
But a desolate wilderness behind them,
And nothing at all escapes them.”
God’s love for us is a consuming fire, and when we come to him with broken wills and yielded hearts, desiring His all, we can rest in the fact that everything behind us has been burned up by His consuming fire of love for us in forgiveness and mercy. It is all burned up, and we need never look back again. His consuming fire before us is like a garden of Eden luring us into a life lost in intimacy with Him, where fruitfulness is bountiful and limitless.