Joel 2:13 - Summer of Scripture

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Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we are releasing a daily devotional episode for your marriage. And over these 66 days, we're going to pull out one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talk about how it applies to your marriage. So if you listen to every single one of these episodes, you're going to have a comprehensive understanding of God's plan. And for your marriage, we encourage you to listen to everyone. Let's dive into today's Scripture. Hey friends, welcome to Day 29. We're in the book of Joel today. Joel 2:13 says this don't tear your clothing in grief, but tear your hearts instead. Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not to punish. I love this verse, and I love what the prophet Joel is telling us here about the nature of God. I think we get these false assumptions of God that he's angry all the time and he's trying to punish us and he's looking for us to do something wrong so he can throw a lightning bolt at us or something. And the truth is the opposite of that, that God is so merciful and compassionate. He's slow to get angry. He's filled with unfailing love. He's not eager to punish you. He's eager to to show grace to you. Now the first part of this don't tear your clothing in grief. This refers to a cultural practice at the time where to show how sorry we were for something or how sad we were, people would rip their clothing and in outward ways, really demonstrative, expressive ways, they'd cover themselves in sackcloth and ashes. They would rip their garments like I'm broken. But you know, the Bible's saying, like, that's really not necessary. What God's looking for is in this, this extreme outward expression. He's looking for what's happening in your heart, that your heart would be truly broken because of your sins so that God could heal it. He doesn't want us to live in shame, but he wants us to fall under that conviction when we've sinned so that he can come in and offer his grace.

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Yeah, I think, again, we've talked a lot about the heart through this whole summer of Scripture, but the heart's important. I think that's why the Bible talks about it so much, because, you know, we do need to allow, like we want. There's a. A line. I'm trying to think what. I think it's in Hosanna, that worship song. Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest. You know what I'm talking about? I'm trying to think of who sang that. It was out of Australia. It was a Hillsong song. But I just love it so much. And we sang it for years. But one of my favorite lines is in the very middle of the song. It says, break our hearts for what breaks yours.

Yeah, that's good.

And I love that because, you know, and I've never heard it put like that, but that's essentially. That's what this is saying. Like, we need to be so tuned into the Lord that when we see something that is not of God or an injustice of some kind or, you know, things aren't right, like, they're not what God would have them be, it needs to break our hearts. And that can be us personally, like, being, you know, having that heart of flesh where we're like, man, I am so grieved by my own behavior or that choice that wasn't the right choice. Or I'm so grieved that my spouse is dealing with this. It breaks my heart because this isn't right, you know, But I do think that, again, in our world, and y', all, like, we live in a broken world, and I love the. I love the world we live in. I love people. But, I mean, I think we all need to reckon, you know, reckon with ourselves and just the reality we live in and recognize that it is a broken world and that there is a lot of heartbreaking stuff out there. But I Think that with that broken heartedness, like just having that posture of a broken heart, that's what leads us to reach out to God. But then also maybe do something about it. Like, it should break our hearts when we wake up in the morning and we don't wanna talk to our spouse and we don't even have a thought of caring about them. Like that should break our heart. But most of the time when we're at that dynamic again, we talked about contempt earlier this season. We're so hardened in our heart that we've cut ourselves off from that ability to feel that way. And that's a scary place to be. You know, I call that apathy. Like, where you're literally like, I don't even care. Like, that's a scary place. But I hope that if you're even listening to this today, that this can be a turning point. And I would just. I would pray like, lord, break my heart for what breaks yours. And right now I feel numb in my marriage. Like, I just don't even know how to feel. Like I'm so. Just out of even solutions. I'm so out of feelings because I don't feel like he loves me anymore. I don't feel like she loves me anymore. I don't think I love them anymore. Please help us, Lord. Give us that heart of flesh. Break our hearts for one another and just lead us through this process of healing. That's a big prayer. And I do think that God will meet you there. Like, we've seen the deadest of marriages where they are living as roommates and. Or maybe in contempt. Maybe there's been a lot of fighting, but it's gotten to such a point where there's not even any fighting anymore. There's not even any conversation. It's just like silence and two hardened hearts. We've seen God break their hearts for that situation and give them new life. Like, we've seen him give them beauty for the ashes, you know, we've seen him restore what no one thought could be restored, you know, and so I just wanna offer you hope today that even as broken as you feel that God can put those pieces back together, but make them even stronger in the process.

He does. He wants to bring healing and he doesn't want you to live in the brokenness. Just like when you break your arm, you know, you don't just walk around with a broken arm. You get it set, which can be a painful process, but it's a quick painful process. And then you get a cast on it, which can be an uncomfortable process for a while. Yeah, it's itchy, it's itchy, but it's all there. Designed to bring healing. And so the path to healing, it might be a little bit uncomfortable, but it's not a punishment. It's just the process to get to healing. So I think so many Christians walk around in shame, beating themselves up because they think, oh, meet, I've got to just punish myself for all these bad things and live in shame. That's never what God wants for us. He wants us to let our hearts break with conviction for our sin, turn to him, find healing, and then do the work to get on the path of healing and then get to that place of peace. He wants you to live in peace. And so talk to your spouse today about what parts of your life, what parts of your marriage maybe need to, you know, need some of that course correction. And then be open with a lot of grace and mercy to just take that journey together knowing that God is with you. He is for you, and he is so merciful. He's so full of grace and he's got great things in store for both of you guys. Thanks so much for tuning in today. Join us tomorrow. Day 31. We've done a full month together. It's hard to believe, and we will see you then.

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