“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” 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. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

--Parallel verses:
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭16‬-‭17‬
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

Our parallel verses represent one of the most profound statements of King David, who had just been called out by Nathan the prophet for his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. Here, David recognizes that he cannot pay his way out of the sinful mess of lives he has made. All he can do is be broken before a sovereign and holy God.

One of the practices in Israel, for people who were mourning or contrite in heart, was to tear their clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. This was an outward demonstration of their sadness, repentance, or anguish. Here we find in Joel, that this is not enough for the Israelites to please God.

On our own, as sinners, we cannot qualify for a relationship with a holy God. But he gave a way for the Israelites before Jesus to atone for sin with animal sacrifices. The burnt offerings and sacrifices were but a mere symbol of what the heart should be doing. It does not please God for us to go on offering endless sacrifices for our sins and never change our hearts. This disgusts him.

So Joel’s cry is “rend our heart” to the Lord. Rend means to split or tear apart or in pieces by violence (Merriam Webster dictionary). In this context, it could be said: “Firemen had to rend the man free from the burning car.” Or, “A sword rent the enemy in two.”

Unrepentant sin corrupts our hearts to the core. Like a cancer attaching to one of our vital organs, sin saps us of our spiritual life. And over time, this incestuous evil turns our hearts wicked. Turning from a life of sin is not a casual activity. It requires a tearing apart of the sin in our heart from the vital organ. Like physically rending a man from a burning car, there must be a tearing apart of the damaging fire of sin in our hearts, to rescue our hearts for the Lord.

We cannot do this on our own. We are damaged and in the trauma room, spiritually. Only God can help us turn our hearts back to him. But we must have the desire to do so. And we must have the desire to kill the sin in our life and to turn fully away from it. We must wholeheartedly follow the Lord.

After Jesus came, lived a perfect life, and sacrificed his body on the cross, we can receive his gift of grace for our sins. We do this by an active faith and rending our hearts to God.

What does it look like for me to give over the parts of my heart that are not fully surrendered to God? How do I rend my heart and not just make casual changes?

Lord, search me and know my thoughts. Help me to understand what it means to follow you wholeheartedly. Tear my heart away from anything that is not wholly committed to you. Purify me for your service.