“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. – Joel 2:12-13
Last Ash Wednesday, I had one of the more humorous moments in my ministry. I recall going to Dollar Tree sometime in the afternoon between services to get a few things. I was still dressed in my clerical collar. When I was checking out, the cashier asked me, “Are you that guy who is putting ashes on everyone’s foreheads?” A little humored, I said, “I’m one of them, yes.” He then said, “Do you have any on you? Can I get some?” Not one to carry ashes on me, I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t.” He then asked me, “So, why are you doing that anyways?” And to that, I said, “Well, let me tell you….” And I proceeded to tell him about the meaning of the ashes, repentance, and Lent in general.
The day of Ash Wednesday helps to set the tone and theme for the season of Lent: Repent! We are encouraged to repent of and confess our sins to God. We are encouraged to repent of and confess every sin to God. Those sins that we know of. Those sins that we have committed by thought, word, and deed. Those things we have done, and those things we have left undone. Those sins we know we have committed, and even those we might not have even realized we committed.
But, why repent? Why confess to doing wrong, and falling short of God’s ways? The prophet Joel tells us. “‘Yet even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart…rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.’”
We can confess our sins because our God is gracious. Our God is merciful. He is slow to anger. He abounds in steadfast love. He will not turn us away in Christ, and because of Christ. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we can be confident of our forgiveness. We can be confident we have a gracious, merciful, and compassionate God, and One Who is all those things towards us.
As we go through this Lenten season, return to the Lord your God. Why? He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love! Why wouldn’t you go to a God like that?!
In Christ,
Pastor Nick Kooi
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XXI, Number 8, March 2020)