Repent

That is why the Lord says,“Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse.

Joel 2:12-14a NLT

If you've noticed my verses in recent weeks they all have come from the Old Testament. My Daily Walk Bible has me going through the minor prophets and I just love it. The Old Testament is so often ignored except for the Psalms and Proverbs and maybe some old Bible stories about Moses and Daniel.

I think the criticism of the Old Testament is that God is always angry and it's full of His judgment. People love the New Testament because it's full of God's grace and His love and His mercy. If you have been avoiding the Old Testament because you think there isn't any application today or it's just made up of old stories think again.

The verse above is from the minor prophet, Joel and he preaches a message that I love. It was necessary in his day and it sure is necessary today. Repent. The people of Israel and Judah had this wonderful habit of loving God when things were good, then ignore Him, a prophet would come and preach repentance, but often the people would ignore him and then punishment or consequence would follow.

As long as there is sin there will be a need for repentance and today is no different. The sin maybe different than 5000 years ago, but the need for forgiveness is not. The difference is we have a Saviour and the Israelites could only hope and wait for him. His name is Jesus and because of his obedience we can run to God and not hide from Him. He will forgive our trespasses, but we need to confess to Him before we can receive His forgiveness.

No matter which prophet is preaching repentance, you will almost always see a reminder of God's compassion and mercy. He is not sitting up in heaven waving His finger at us saying, "Mark blew it again. He's run out of chances with me. There is no chance of him getting into my Heaven." Thankfully the Lord forgives me and you over and over and over. I do know the Lord would like us to get it and not keep repeating our mistakes so we don't continue in the same consequences.

My favorite part of the passage is the end. Did you catch it? If we repent of our sin or sins, perhaps instead of a curse we might get a blessing instead. What a turn of events. Where we might deserve punishment instead we might get a reward instead. I think that goes against any parenting book we might read. "Child breaks rules, buy him a toy and then take him to McDonalds."

Is there anything in your life you need to repent or change course of? You know you can't hide it from God anyway. I can tell you first hand that if you're not sure if you're in any sin, then ask God and He will reveal it. He pointed that out recently to me in my marriage that I wasn't doing the things I was called to as a husband. God said, "You asked and so here it is." I confessed it and we dealt with it and moved forward.

You too can move forward and receive His blessings. Praise God!!