Evangelist Billy Sunday was accused of rubbing the fur the wrong way because of the way he preached. His answer: “I do not. Let the cat turn around.” That’s a picture of repentance, turning around. It’s a heart matter, where real issues of life are determined.
Joel 2:12 says: “Even now declares the Lord, ‘Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. He relents from sending calamity.’”
When reading the Old Testament book of Joel you’ll see how he approached the heart through the head. He gave the heart reasons to repent. When God is forgotten the beautiful becomes barren, the delightful is destroyed and the garden becomes a wilderness. These outward results of being abandoned by God are sure signs we need to repent.
Joel spells out the remedy for this condition. Make your heart available for God to work on, in and through you. He changes the outside by changing the inside. When a repentant heart is renewed it will inspire the hands. Once healed ourselves we’re instructed to help others.
Keep in mind, repentance is not works, but it does result in good works. Let’s really repent as we read Joel, the next book in our project of reading through the rest of the Bible by the end of this year.
