Rend
your heart and not your garments. (Joel 2:13)
Just
after midnight, the day after Christmas 2004, an undersea earthquake hit off the
coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. Measuring 9.1 on the Richter Scale, the
quake triggered a massive tsunami wave, which devastated the entire region and
killed over 250,000 people.
Joel
writes to the people of Judah following another natural disaster. While locust
invasions are not unusual in the Middle East, Joel wrote that their
grandchildren would be telling their
children about this one – the locust storm of the century.
He
then springboards from this catastrophe into an almost apocalyptic portrayal of
another coming disaster he terms the day
of the Lord. In this day an army likened to giant locusts will invade from
the north. In other words: If you think
the last locust invasion was rough, just wait. Something even worse is on its
way.
But
then Joel offers a word of hope: Rend
your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he gracious
and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from
sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity… (2:13,14).
Joel
says real repentance happens in the heart. The truly repentant don’t have to
fear the coming Day of the Lord, whether that day is a natural disaster, a
military invasion, or judgment itself.
Have
you offered God the sacrifice of a broken spirit? Or just torn your clothes?
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