Return to the Lord

“Yes even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your garments.” Return to the Lord your God for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love – often relenting from calamitous punishment.  Joel 2:12-13

 My mom tells a story about when she was a young girl. She and her brother often got into trouble together. When they were caught, they were sent to their rooms to await punishment. When her father came in to talk with her about what she had done wrong and met out her discipline, typically in the form of spankings, she was stoic. Whether or not she said she was sorry I’m not sure, but she did not demonstrate a heart of repentance. When he had finished with her, her father would move on to her brother’s room. Before he even opened the door, he could hear her brother crying in there. Was he crying because he got caught? Was he crying because he was afraid of the punishment? Was he crying because he was truly repentant? Who knows, but he was crying. Because of that, usually his punishment would be less severe than his sister’s. Who has the heart to spank a child who is already crying?

 The ”Day of the Lord” is coming. For the Israelites Joel was speaking to, this was an eminent threat of attack. But it also referred to the final day of judgement when we will all stand before the throne of God. For us it may be the same, both a future eventuality and a disaster perhaps already in the making. Joel 2 describes “a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains.” I’ve faced a few of these in my life, how about you? Sometimes this is a result of trouble I have had some part in causing. Sometimes it’s just a season of difficulty that doesn’t seem to be a discipline of any sort. Either way, I purpose to get my heart right with God.

 Being intentional about coming to God and asking if there is anything I have done that is putting a barrier in our relationship is an important part of maintaining a healthy relationship. Thankfully, He doesn’t say to me, “Well what do you think?” like a person might. When I approach Him with a sincere heart asking to know if I’ve done anything that has displeased Him, and then I sit in expectation, I can trust that He will show me. Sometimes I get a sense of peace that things are all good between us. Sometimes I am reminded of something I have thought, said or done that I shouldn’t have. Perhaps it's an attitude I have harbored, or angry words that I allowed to slip out of my mouth. Sometimes I need to make things right with God and sometimes He shows me that I need to make amends with a person that I have wronged or given a bad impression to. That’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it because when I’ve finished, I can feel a sense of being in good standing with my Heavenly Father.

Here's the Thing: I can sit in self-righteous indignation being sure that I my actions were warranted, that the other person deserved what they got, or I can soften my heart to the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Which do you think will go better for me?

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