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God is...

I must warn you that my devotions follow no specific biblical order or topic! They are written off of a Scripture passage I cannot get out of my head, a verse found through a random Bible read, or from researching a topic relevant to me on a certain day/time.

Today's post is one I wrote a while that made me go "Amen," as I was reading it a few moments ago. It is from the Old Testament, in the Book of Joel. In Chapter 2, verse 13 reads, "Don't tear your clothing in your grief; instead, tear your hearts. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is not easily angered. He is filled with kindness and is eager not to punish you."

Please read the whole chapter for more context! I pulled out that verse because it brings me great comfort, in the midst of great repentance. There are so many things about this small section to love. Let’s break it down:

Don’t tear your clothing – tear your hearts.

How profound! Our hearts -  those glorious, beating, strong, stubborn, things at the core of ourselves that control us in ways our mind cannot seem to – can be torn, willingly. That is what we must tear into when we are being so blatant as to disobey God. Our hearts need to be torn so they can be reshaped, correctly, into what God wants them to be.  We must tear our hearts so we can return to God. It would be less of a fallen world if this was just a one-time event, but we must return to God again and again. As human, we fail and sometimes seem to be stuck in a cycle that involves screwing up / tearing our hearts / returning to god / and then screwing up again. But the amazing thing is that we have a loving Savior who allows us to have a cycle and keeps taking us back.

Return to the Lord your God because:

  • He is merciful
  • He is compassionate
  • He is slow to get angry
  • He is filled with unfailing love
  • He is eager to relent
  • He does not want to punish.

Isn’t that amazing?! That causes me to ask myself why on earth I don’t just fall into His arms every day, but instead insist on going through this “heart-tearing” process! How simple things would be if I could just remember how great our God is. How simple things would be if I could get over my “human-ness!”

Heavenly Father God, please help me get it through my head and stuck on my heart that you are merciful, compassionate, slow to anger, filled with UNFAILING love, eager to relent and you do not enjoy punishing. More than anything, you want us to return to you. I think ideally, that would be a one-time thing, but as faulty creatures, we fall away sometimes every day. When we do fall away, a way back to you is through tearing our hearts – tearing them so there is room for you. Thank you being so wonderful that you are willing to work with us, guide us, and take us back time and time again. 

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