Rend your heart and not your garments.
—Joel 2:13
Joel warned Israel they were going to pay a high price for ditching God: locusts would demolish their fields and destroy their crops.
But that didn’t have to be the final word, for God delights in showing mercy—erasing calamity with compassion when the rebellious repent and return to him.
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.
Repentance is not outward show, but inner sorrow—a change of heart. “You do not delight in sacrifice,” said David, “or I would bring it … The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:16-17).
Repentance is the renewal of life.