Joel was admonishing Israel to take note and tell their children from generation to generation about the worst plague of locusts ever witnessed in the land and tell them why it should come. The days of the end of the age, yet future, will be more horrible than anything yet seen. Is anyone today aware that such days are coming?

This language accords with Revelation as befitting the time under the Antichrist in the end of the age. It should be a standing tradition among God's people, so that men would recognize the signs of the times..

But There Is More
All truth is before us in the Word. The same truth was in the hands of our fathers who were Christians and Baptists. But were they concerned to pass it on to their children? Some were, but much of what has come down to us was tradition of the elders, not the traditions which were handed to us by the apostles or the inspired writers of the New Testament (Galatians 1:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:15). "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).

That which we fathers commit to our children and to our peers is more than right doctrine. David's desire, as seen in the passage quoted (Psalm 71:18), was that God not forsake him until he made known God's strength to his generation, even his mighty power, to all who were to come. The word for show means to make conspicuous.

As a king David was in a position to demonstrate the hand of the Lord, even His strong arm, to all the people. How? He lived by faith in such a manner that all could see that He was the Lord's servant and wrought His works. This had been very obvious when he was young, when he slew Goliath. But he had failed the Lord later in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba. He was jerked up short before the Lord on this sin and had to plead for forgiveness and cleansing. He was forgiven, but he had to live the rest of his lifetime under the shadow of that departure. This colored His praying for the rest of his days. He was especially concerned lest God forsake him in his old age.

Men today are quick to point out David's sin in this one matter. God says, (1 Kings 15:5) "Because David did [that which was] right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any [thing] that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite," He honored David's dynasty in his son, and grandsons who succeeded him. There came a time when one of those descendants so sinned that God caused the diadem to be removed and the crown thrown down (Ezekiel 21:27).

It was Zedekiah who was captured by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, his eyes punched out, and he carried to Babylon, after he had witnessed with those eyes the deaths of his sons who might otherwise have succeeded him. All this could have been avoided had he listened to God's prophet, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38:14-28).

David had lived to a ripe old age for that day, perhaps as old as 70 years (cf. 1 Kings 2:11). One misjudgment, one wrong choice, brought him years of pain and heartache. Do we wonder that he prayed such prayers as Psalm 71? God heard those prayers and spared him personally, though his own family did not always remain true to him.

A Big Mistake For Us Today
We are so caught up in making a living, getting ahead in the world, enjoying the present which is often so filled with pleasures of the flesh, until we fail to make right associations concerning why things go as they do. A man can become ill with what may be a terminal disease and ask himself why God allowed this, yet seldom do men get the right answer.

There is definitely a connection between our handling our relationship with God and the things which go wrong in our lives. This explains why God wanted Joel to relay the facts concerning the plagues to Israel so all the generations could make the connection. But men do not want to make these connections, even when they concern other men.

For example, men today seldom associate the plague of AIDS (Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome) with the lifestyle of those who were the first caught in the grip of this disease. If we say God sent this to warn men that He is displeased with the way they are living, not only do the guilty scream, but most of society, if saying anything, cry out in protest.

Since the introduction of this terrible curse those responsible have been most open and outspoken in their protests. The society has so departed from the traditions of the fathers until they complain at the prayers of the religious right (as they call it), but nothing is said about the demonstrations for the homosexuals. Well, God has a complaint, calling it an abomination (Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; 1 Kings 14:24; Romans 1:26, 27; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:10; Jude 7).

Some of these passages mention fornication (the sin which produces children out of wedlock). Why is this so rampant today? It is because past generations kept quiet and did not pass on to their children the word and the example that these things are sin in God's sight.

The Tragedy of Sin in Old Age
It is an abomination in God's sight for men to ignore Him in their youth, but when it comes in age it is even worse, for one should learn with the passing of the years. We all know that Television is bringing these things into our living rooms, but how much effort do we make to prevent our children's feeling it is acceptable? David's concern was that his failure might mean his being cast off from God. Do we even think about this today?

Solomon was evidently taught pretty well, for he did some good things in his younger days, but in later life he seems to have forgotten it all, even that warning he gave in his Sermon (Ecclesiastes 12). He may even have been up in years when he wrote this, for he describes age in very realistic terms: "evil days" and a time when men shall say "I have no pleasure in them."

Youth is a time of "sunlight, moonlight and starlight," those conditions when there are no clouds. Clouds always bespeak unpleasant days. How the sports world, nearly all men, decry a weekend with rain! The world seems not to realize that the rain is as necessary as the sunlight.

Age is further described as...

• "the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble," (the muscles weakening and trembling)...

• "the strong men shall bow themselves" (shoulders stoop)...

• "the grinders cease because they are few" (teeth worn or rotted out)...

• "those that look out of the windows be darkened" (eyesight failing)...

• "the doors shut in the street when the sound of the grinding is low" (noises disturb sleep or rest)...

• "he shall rise up at the voice of the bird" (less sleep needed and easily disturbed)...

• "all the daughters of music brought low" (the voice not good any more and hearing dimmed or disappearing)...

• "afraid of that which is high" (tree climbing days long past, balance no longer dependable)...

• "fears shall be in the way" (more cautious because of apprehensiveness)...

• "the almond tree shall flourish" (white headed like the blossoming almond in winter before leaves show)...

• "the grasshopper shall be a burden" (small things irritate), "desire shall fail" (ambition has gone, capering is for children)...

• "man goeth to his long home" (no more moving for where he goes at death is final)...

• "and the mourners go about the streets" (if there was no family or friends left to mourn, mourners were hired to manifest the value of the one departed.

If all that seems gruesome, note the change to the word "Or" in verse 6. One does not have to have years to bring on death, as age inevitably will for those who have lived many years. Other things happen and even the young go. "The silver cord be loosed" (spinal cord severed in a fall or accident), "the bowl broken," (skull crushed), "the pitcher broken at the fountain" (a ruptured blood vessel cannot preserve the flow of life), "the wheel broken at the cistern" (the heart itself fails).