A Call to Return
During theses ‘unprecedented’ times, when all the world seems to have moved online, when the majority of our interactions are over the screen, and everything and anything is accessible at any time, I can start to feel myself getting lost in the chaos of content and news and consumption. The voices are the world become louder and louder until it is almost as if there is a shouting match in my brain. It is in the moments that I increasingly have a longing and desire to pull back and just spend time with truth, with Jesus.
This was true several weeks ago. I had come to the end of the day weary. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally. And so I did the only thing I could. I opened my bible to the scripture I had read earlier in the day and started to process it. There’s probably a fancy word for it. But it simply is speaking truth into my weary heart. And today as I read it again, it had the same effect.
Maybe your heart is weary and in need of some truth. Maybe you’re just curious at how someone processes scripture. Maybe the Holy Spirit has been prompting you to return to your first love. Maybe you long for restoration. May this be encouragement today.
In Joel 2:12-13 we see God’s call for repentance:
“‘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...”
The background:
God’s people the Israelites have again left their first love, wandered away from truth, worshipped other idols, followed the trends and traditions of their pagan neighbours. One of the side effects of this is that they are physically suffering. The land isn’t fruitful. There are plagues and swarms of locusts. In summary? They are a mess.
The future:
We have the perspective of the whole of scripture. We know that they may return to God, only to forget his goodness again and again. We know that Jesus is coming. We know that not all will recognize him as Messiah. We know that a whole movement of believers will grow into the Christian church.
What we can learn from the call for repentance:
“Yet even now” - No matter how far you have strayed, it is not too far. No matter what you are in the middle of, it is not too late. There is also an urgency. Don’t wait to make things right on your own. Don’t wait for the circumstances to be right. Now.
“Return to me with all your heart” - To return to God while still holding on to other loves, other idols, sin that brings too much pleasure is to repent half-heartedly and is not full repentance. He is a jealous God. He wants ALL of you and ALL of me. He wants our love, our adoration, our eyes.
“With fasting, with weeping and with mourning” - Repentance is more than just words. Our separation from God leads us to GRIEVE and MOURN. Seeing our sin for what it is should bring sorrow.
“Rend your hearts and not your garments.” - this is my favourite part of this whole verse. It paints a picture. Someone tearing their garments is noticeable. It makes a scene. You know that person is mourning something. It brings to mind the New Testament passage about the Pharisees praying on the street corner so that people would marvel at their prayers. Rending of garments is false humility. “Oh I am so sinful but look I am weeping and mourning and so God must show me favour.” But rending your heart, that is a private, personal matter. It is done in the quiet before you and God. If I’m honest, this makes me uncomfortable. I don’t like sitting with my sin and recognizing it for what it is because it means that I’ve disappointed God, that I haven’t followed the rules, that my sin caused by my action has created a rift and conflict between us. But to understand the weight of it, to truly see just how evil and black my sin is, to weep and mourn and grieve as part of the process to returning to God, I need to sit with it. I need to rend my heart in order for Jesus to bring healing.
“He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (loving-kindness) - This description of God comes up again and again in scripture. To Moses in Exodus. In the law in Leviticus. Several times throughout the Psalms and in the Prophets. And we see these characteristics played out again and again in our lives. Seas of pure grace. Wave upon wave upon wave of loving-kindness that takes those hearts that are broken and makes them whole.
The process of Returning to God: (not just at the point of conversion, but again and again).
Rending of the heart - see your sin for what it is. Let it break your heart
Repentance - Lay it all out for God to see. Name it all. Sincerely. Honestly. No hiding.
Redemption
Receiving God’s forgiveness,
Recognizing Jesus’ death on the cross, payment for the debt we owe
Restoration - Let God come in and make things whole again. Let his love abound in you, cover you.
Rest and reward - When we return to God we experience rest and peace. No longer straining, He gives us everything we need. Our reward is union with him. There is nothing sweeter.
Today, may we return to God with all of ourselves and receive the restoration that comes only through Jesus.