Daily Repentance and Surrender

“Yes, tear your heart and not your robes, and turn to Jehovah your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He pities because of the evil.” (Joel 2:13)

In the Old Testament it was customary to tear one’s garments in grief. This is called Keriah and is today a ceremonial rite and not natural like it was then. In the first chapter of Joel, he tells them what the Lord says is the result of their sin.  The new wine is cut off and has dried up. Nations have come against them. The food offering and the drink offering are cut off in the temple. The fields are wasted. The olive trees are drooping. There is no harvest.  All the fruit trees have dried up. There is no food, the seed is rotten and there is no pasture for the cattle and sheep. God calls them to repent. “Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” (Joel 2:12) They must have torn their garments at hearing Joel’s words.

The Lord tells them that there is no reconciliation in tearing their clothes, but in tearing their hearts. In other words, their grief should be an expression of their hearts not just the action of tearing their clothes. We have the same difficulty today. People are touched by the Word of God when it’s preached, and they sob. But their hearts are still in darkness because although they are sorrowful, they are not repentant. They do not want to turn from their sin. They love the blessing and benefits of being a believer, but they love darkness and themselves more than the Lord.

The death and resurrection of Jesus is proof of His great love and mercy. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1Peter 1:3) He loved us in spite of our sin and sent Jesus to us. We must believe and repent. “Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10) But if one believes, one must repent of sin so that it may be forgiven. “Therefore repent and convert so that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19) Only a foolish person believes but refuses to repent.

When Jesus spoke to John His message to the seven churches, He told the church at Ephesus to repent. Remember that we can look at the seven churches as actual churches, types of churches or individuals. The church of Ephesus can be a person who is a member of a church who is active in many activities at church and may even be a zealot for Christ but has left his first love. He’s forgotten Jesus. He has been so busy, he hasn’t had time to spend with Jesus. This is a real danger with leaders in the church. Our time with Jesus must be priority. It’s from Him that we get our strength. “ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) He is our hope. “For to them God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27) He is our salvation. “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we are examined today on a good work for an infirm man, by what this one has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in this name does this man stand before you whole. This is the Stone which you builders have counted worthless, and He has become the Head of the Corner. And there is salvation in no other One; for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:8-12) How could we ignore such a precious holy One Who loves us?

God requires us to rend our hearts. He looks at our hearts and that is most important to Him. Busy works glorify Him. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) But we must have hearts that desire Him more than works, a daily communion with Him, repenting and surrendering to Him.