Can I be forgiven for that? (Joel 1-3; Matt 10)

You’ve done it again. Have you gone too far? Can He forgive someone like you? Do you have to do something to make up for it? In the book of Joel, God warns of judgment on His people for their sin. And yet, even though they have been so wicked, God urges them to come back to Him! The Lord is reluctant to judge, He wants to forgive. Forget any ideas of Him waiting to strike you down for one mistake, look at his gracious heart.

The prophet Joel says “Return to the LORD your God” and then gives the reason why “for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Joel 2:13)

What a God! We so often deserve to be struck down for the way we’ve treated Him, but whenever we fail, He urges us to return to Him. What a helpful picture to keep in mind. When you sin, when you fail, you don’t need to worry about how God will respond if you return to Him. He is more willing to forgive than we are to say sorry, as one of the puritans wrote “there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.” God is like the Father in the parable of the prodigal, running to meet His wayward son.

We see His gracious character so clearly in our Lord Jesus, who went out of His way to welcome sinners. We see His total commitment in going to the cross for us, dying in our place so that we can have life. And so he calls us not to go through the motions of religion, your sin is so serious that tearing your garments is not enough. You cannot earn your way back to God, there is no penance that would be sufficient. He calls us not to tear our clothes, but our hearts. That’s what He wants, He wants us to love Him! He wants us to weep over our sin, and then to rejoice in our saviour.

Later in the chapter God promises that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” – verses that Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Peter is speaking to people who had put the Son of God to death. You cannot imagine a worse sin! And yet, even to people like that, even to people like us who sometimes live as if we wish God were dead, He urges us to return.

Don’t stay away from God. Return to Him today. Meditate on His gracious character.

“Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful.”