"Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity." (Joel 2:13)
What's interesting about the Old Testament is that, as a rough summary, it's a cycle of disobedience, disaster, and forgiveness. The people of the OT had a tendency to wander away from the path God clearly laid out for them. They grumbled. They were wicked. God sent prophets to warn them about what would happen if they didn't shape up, and when they went ahead and kept on sinning and calamity happened, He sent prophets to offer hope and a path to healing. Those words of hope can be a great comfort to us today, in our own wandering. I've mentioned that the last year wasn't a great chapter in the story of my faith. I let my worries isolate me, and let myself be overcome with despair. Living alone, with not a lot of encouragement in my faith, I wandered away from God. Coming back is a work in progress, but I think we all often feel that way in our lives. We know what God wants for us, but temptation often seems easier, and we stray. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a rude awakening to bring us back.
We have it easy in many ways. Our Messiah has come, and with Him comes forgiveness and salvation. In the days of the Old Testament, they had to offer sacrifice, and as a sign of contrition they would tear their clothes in anguish. As I flipped through my Bible recently, the verse above stuck out to me. "Rend your heart and not your garments." Have you ever felt like your heart was torn? Imagine the vulnerable and empty feeling that comes with a broken heart. It's something I've been feeling a lot in the last few months. But it took that rending of the heart - the disaster and tragedy of disappointed earthly hopes - to bring me back to my Savior. He is the only things that can fill the hole and heal the wounds. It wasn't until I was reminded of the temporality of earthly love that I clung once more to the eternal love of my Father. We've heard it many times that God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes those ways can be painful, but these humbling experiences are needed to show us what truly matters.
Even in heartbreak, there is blessing, because it reminds me to return to my God for the love that will endure.
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