I’ve seriously messed up!

What do you do when things get horribly, even disastrously, messed up—and it’s your fault? This happens sometimes, doesn’t it? You were very angry, spewed out some hateful words, and now an important relationship is seriously wounded, maybe even broken for good. Or you made some bad choices, and now the consequences are very painfully coming home to roost. We’re not talking about accidents, mistakes, oversights, goofs. No. What this passage has in mind are times when you have seriously screwed up.

I’ve observed that there are two responses people sometimes make in these situations.

One is to think that it all can be “papered over” with a few words of apology. That’s what Joel has in mind when he tells people not to tear their garments but to rend their hearts. In the ancient world a person would indicate his grief by tearing his cloak, but Joel knows that sometimes people could make an outward show in this way when they were not really sorry at all. In theology, we call that “cheap grace,” thinking that we can easily gain God’s forgiveness with a few insincere words.

The other response is to give up hope, to think that our situation is so great there is simply no way back. The mistakes have been too great, or too often, or too serious. Failings that we should have corrected but didn’t finally caught up with us. Things have become such a disaster that there is nothing that can be said or done. “God is never going to take me back!”

This passage reminds us that with God, there is always a way back. It’s not always easy. It takes a genuinely sorrowful heart and actions to match. Serious efforts to seek forgiveness from those we have wounded. It’s not cheap grace. But the Lord is gracious, merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Even when – especially when – the situation is a disaster, God is ready to provide a way back.

If you are searching for hope today, be assured of God’s love. Pray like this: Oh God, I know that I’ve seriously messed up. I want to be your obedient child again, to have fellowship with you and your son Jesus. Have mercy on me, Lord, and walk with me into the days ahead as I do the best I can to make things right again, in the power of your Spirit.

Throughout This Day: Meditate on these verses that call us to confess our sins, while also promising forgiveness and cleansing:

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives (1 John 1:5-10).



Tags: Daily Devotional Joel 2
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