Does repentance prevent catastrophies (Joel 2:12-14)?
Joel 2:12 "Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
Joel 2:13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
Joel 2:14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
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Timothy Maas
Supporter
I would express it by first noting that the greatest catastrophe that any individual can (or could) experience would be eternal separation from God, which repentance and faith in Christ would prevent. Repentance may also (at God's pleasure and to serve His purposes) prevent the natural or temporal consequences of sinful actions (as in the case, for example, of God sparing the city of Nineveh in response to the city's repentance because of the preaching of Jonah). However, such relief is not promised or guaranteed. Thankfully, God (as noted in Romans 8:28) can (and does) make all things that His decretive will directs, or that His permissive will allows -- no matter how seemingly adverse, unpleasant, or trying they may seem to us in this life -- work together for the ultimate good of believers. When faced with such negative circumstances, believers should always attempt (however difficult it might be) to discern God's intended purpose and the "lessons" that He desires us to learn from them in order to draw us closer to Him.
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