Joel 2:1-16: a reflection

1Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD comes, for it is close at hand: 2A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations. 3A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them. 4Their appearance is as the appearance of horses, and they run as horsemen. 5Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. 6At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale. 7They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course. 8One doesn’t jostle another. They each march in their own path. They burst through the defenses and don’t break ranks. 9They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves. 10The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 11The LORD thunders his voice before his army, for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the LORD is great and very awesome, and who can endure it? 12“Yet even now,” says the LORD, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” 13Tear your heart and not your garments, and turn to the LORD, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity. 14Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to the LORD, your God. 15Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. 16Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his room, and the bride out of her chamber.

Joel warns of the day of the LORD with terrifying imagery, and then, in the middle of the alarm, comes an unexpected turn of grace: Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. And he adds the crucial qualifier: rend your hearts and not your garments. Even at the last hour, with judgment at the door, the door of return stands open, because God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.

Notice the two things Joel presses. First, even now. However late it seems, however far gone, the invitation to return is still open; it is not too late. And second, the kind of return God wants: rend your hearts, not your garments. Tearing the garments was the outward sign of grief; God wants the reality it signified, a genuinely broken and returning heart, not merely an outward show of repentance. He is after the heart, not the performance.

Both are for us. Whatever you have done, however late it feels, God's even now still stands; the door of return is open, because he is gracious and merciful. And what he asks is not an outward performance of sorrow but a real turning of the heart. Do not settle for rending your garments, the outward show, while your heart stays unchanged. Return to him with all your heart, honestly and inwardly, even now. He is gracious and merciful, and he is waiting.

Lord, even at the last hour you call, Even now, return to me with all your heart, and you ask me to rend my heart, not my garments. Keep me from an outward show of repentance while my heart stays unchanged. Whatever I have done, however late it feels, help me return to you genuinely and inwardly, with all my heart. Thank you that you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and still waiting.