The Blessings of Repentance
Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart. Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people. (Joel 2:12, 18 KJV)
Joel 2:12-14, Deut. 6:5 and 30:1-3; Ps. 119:1-2; Ezek. 18:31, Acts 3:19
What Is God Saying?
The fundamental and recurring theme of the Prophets involves humans being right with God. The Prophets plead with all people, leaders and followers, kings and priests, decision-makers and ordinary workers, that all should turn back to God and do it with all their hearts. That is all God is waiting for. God determines the outcome of every situation. An oft-repeated theme is "Don't look for help from even the strongest and most promising human allies. They are not interested in your welfare. They are always in it for what they can get out of it, but the Lord loves you because He loves you—no hidden motives, no empty promises, no false fronts." God is "jealous for his land and will pity his people" (2:18). The true believer cries from the depths-"Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee."
God hears, and God answers. Joel declares that God has allowed locusts to attack the land because of faithlessness and sin. But, with true repentance, God will restore the "years which the swarming locusts have eaten" (Joel 3:17-18). A better day is coming. "God will dwell in Zion, Jerusalem shall be holy, all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water." Choose the blessings of repentance. Why delay? God waits.
How Does This Apply To Us?
All that God promised to those who returned to Him in the days of Joel is available to us now. Repentance unlocks the treasures of divine grace. We who have embraced Jesus Christ by faith and entered the family of God are the ones for whom God is jealous. He wants us for His own. He is not an unfeeling, uncaring object. He watches over us with an active, outgoing, jealous love and has the right to hear and see that we love Him in return. "We love him because he first loved us" (I John 3:17). Let the Holy Spirit do His work in our hearts. He will not only convict us of sin; He will restore us to life and lead us to the countless blessings of repentance.
Pray With Me
Lord, thank You for showing me the doorway to Your greatest blessings. Forgive me for allowing myself to think that "a few weak and empty words; a few wistful, vaporish thoughts; a few feeble, formal prayers, and I am safe."
Repentance must be genuine. The ministers of the Lord wept before the altar and cried, "Spare Your people and give not your heritage to reproach." Let me be moved, in the same way, to deep sorrow for my sins. Then, I will know the meaning of God's jealousy for His people. Then, I will taste the joys of fellowship restored. Then, I will have the power of a life renewed.
Holy Spirit, do Your work in my heart. It has been said of You, "When He has come, He will reprove the world of sin." There is something great beyond the pain of reproof and conviction. There are the blessings of a God who is jealous for His own and wants His children to know the fullness of His never-failing love.
How wonderful to be someone for whom God is jealous. I am the object of Your love and pity. Let me never again close my heart to the wonder of Your jealous love, even in the loneliest battles of courage and faith. In repentance, I come to You. In faith, I would receive from You the blessings of a God who is jealous for me and the pity of a God who unceasingly cares.
Through Jesus Christ, who brought Your love to earth and gave my soul its second birth. Amen.
Moving On In The Life Of Prayer
We should dwell not so much on our sins as on God's forgiveness. We should come to prayer, rejoicing more in God's love than grieving over our failures. We should think more about how greatly we are blessed than how sadly we have missed the mark. But, if there is an area, we should confront, confess, and leave it. We should turn with all our hearts to God and turn everything over to God and then move on to possess and enjoy the blessings of true repentance.
