“Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes; joy and gladness from the house of our God?”

If church has become a bit tedious, it is probably a sign that things in your soul life are not quite right…

These people of God in this time have lost all their daily requirements for life. The food and drinks have been suddenly taken away with the onslaught of the hoards of locusts. The cupboards are stripped bare and there is nothing to eat. 

Just like the temporal food, they have also lost the joy and gladness in the house of God. When we lose our daily, bread, we can often lose interest in the bread of life also. When times are hard, we can find ourselves losing interest in the things of God and becoming lazy about our spiritual duties, and the things we once loved fade away. For these people, they have allowed the blessings of life to distract them from the Lord and so they are fallen away. 

The people truly have lost everything for they have lost their joy in the Lord, which is their strength and their motivation to dwell in the house of the Lord has gone. Their Christian assurance has dried up and they are fallen away. It is almost like they are not the people of God any longer, but have reverted to worldliness and therefore the ensuing woe and unhappiness. 

They are miserable because God is against them and has allowed this intense suffering, so now they are turning away from Him and have lost their peace in His presence. 

Beloved, let use learn to stick closely with the Lord. Only in him do we have life and peace, joy and gladness, forgiveness and mercy in all our troubles. Let us not be dragged down by the trials we face and lose our joy through carelessness and unbelief.