“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 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. 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? -Joel 2:12-14
Before this passage Joel has been calling the people to repentance warning of the doom that is coming with the arrival of the Day of the Lord. Then he begins this passage with “Yet even now…he relents over disaster”. God is calling us to return to him fully with our whole hearts. We are sinful, but even still, He is there, eager to show mercy. “Rend your hearts and not your garments”. Many times we come to Christ with our sackcloth on, dramatizing our surrender to the Lord, tearing it apart as an act to the Lord. We lift our hands in worship, get down on our knees in dramatic outward demonstrations. But instead of this outward act, God desires an inward surrender. He wants our hearts of stone to be replaced with hearts of flesh (Ezek. 36:26).
Before this passage Joel has been calling the people to repentance warning of the doom that is coming with the arrival of the Day of the Lord. Then he begins this passage with “Yet even now…he relents over disaster”. God is calling us to return to him fully with our whole hearts. We are sinful, but even still, He is there, eager to show mercy. “Rend your hearts and not your garments”. Many times we come to Christ with our sackcloth on, dramatizing our surrender to the Lord, tearing it apart as an act to the Lord. We lift our hands in worship, get down on our knees in dramatic outward demonstrations. But instead of this outward act, God desires an inward surrender. He wants our hearts of stone to be replaced with hearts of flesh (Ezek. 36:26).
*Spend some time doing a heart check.
-Is there sin that is keeping you from returning to the Lord?
*As you confess and repent before the Lord, take a few minutes to praise Him and celebrate His mercy and grace.
-Is there sin that is keeping you from returning to the Lord?
*As you confess and repent before the Lord, take a few minutes to praise Him and celebrate His mercy and grace.
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