#DailyDevotion Turn From Your Sin & Turn To The Merciful, Gracious God In Christ
Joel 2:12-19
12“Right now,” says the LORD, “return to Me with all your hearts, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” 13Tear your hearts and not your clothes, and turn to the LORD your God because He is gracious, merciful, slow to. get angry, full of kindness, and relents from disaster. 14Who knows – He may relent and leave behind Him a blessing – gifts of food and drink for the LORD your. God? 15Blow the horn in Zion, order a holy fast, 16call a solemn meeting. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, get the elders together, gather the little children, even those who are nursing.. Have the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17Have the priests, the LORD’s servants,, weep between the porch and the altar. Have them say: “Spare Your people, LORD, and don’t let Your inheritance be disgraced and mocked among the nations. Why should any of the nations ask, ‘Where, is their God?”‘ 18Then the LORD was zealous for His country and took pity on His people. 19The LORD answered His people: “Now I’m sending you fresh grain, new wine, and olivee oil, until you are, satisfied. And I will no longer let you be a disgrace among the nations.
While I can certainly understand why a lot of people think the LORD, the God of Israel is a punishing and judging God, because he can be, I don’t understand sometimes why they completely miss that he is primarily a gracious, merciful, loving and kind God. The prophet Joel certain presents both aspects of the LORD as in verse 13 he basically repeats the name of the LORD from Exodus 34, “the LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, slow to get angry, rich in love and faithfulness, 7continuing to show mercy to thousands, forgiving wrong, rebellion, and sin, without treating it as innocent, but disciplining children and children’s children to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their fathers.” He does discipline sin. He will judge sin. But that is the strange work of God. He’d rather forgive, be merciful and gracious, love and be faithfull to you.
So why do people not get that? It’s because they love evil and darkness more than light. John in his first chapter witnesses to this and so does Jesus in chapter 3 of the same. They don’t want to repent. They want to continue doing evil and getting away with it without repercussions in this life or the next. The LORD our God though extends his hands here begging us, “”return to Me with all your hearts, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
The LORD called for a fast among his people as they should repent and turn to him for forgiveness, mercy and grace. Confess their sins to him and he would forgive them. That was the ministry of John the Baptist. Jesus continued that ministry of hearing confession of sins and baptizing for the forgiveness, that is his disciples did. Jesus became the Lamb of God who was sacrificed on Golgatha, Mount Calvary for the forgiveness of sins, conquering the devil and all his accusations against us. He was risen so we may be justified before God. Jesus has removed our disgrace, the disgrace on his people Israel, i.e. the Church. The Father begs you to come to him in the name of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ so he may indeed gracious, merciful, kind, loving and forgiving towards you. Do you want that or do you want to continue in your sin and be judged? Receive his mercy!
Heavenly Father, grant us your Holy Spirit so we may rightly repent of our sins and turn to you in the name of Jesus and receive your mercy. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.