Joel 1:14
Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

There are times I really feel the words for Israel fit America. These words fit our present needs.
We need to fast, assemble, and cry out to God.
I fear we do not know how.
We can assemble but is it sacred?
Think of the world Joel faced every day – agricultural in nature, news traveled slowly by word of mouth, and it was special when you got together with friends and neighbors.
Today we are industrial and technological in nature. News, both real and fake, travel instantly through social media, where we are connected to people all the time and have no need to assemble with them.
When locusts swarmed and destroyed the fields of Israel, it was easy to call for national repentance.
After 9/11 it appeared the same would be true for the USA.
But it’s become easy to pass off any disaster and blame in on someone else rather than personal or national sin.
It may be a different world from that of Joel but it’s the same sin being committed and the same God that judges.