The prophet Joel spoke to the children of Israel saying:
So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God… Joel 2:13 NKJV
Rend means to tear. Many of the references of this word in the Old Testament speak of someone in mourning, tearing their clothes. This was customary in the culture of those days. Here, we see through Joel that God places value on the tearing of one’s heart.
But Joel doesn’t stop here. He goes on to explain the nature and person of the God who would encourage us to heed this instruction.
…for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness… Joel 2:13 NKJV
Ecclesiastes uses this word, rend, to say there is a time to “tear” and a time to sew, just as there is a time to speak and a time to keep silent (Ecc 3:7). It is APPROPRIATE to tear and there is a designated time under heaven in which we SHOULD rend our hearts. To understand how and why one would rend their heart, we go to Jesus who taught us that blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:3). This mourning is over sin. This mourning receives the very comfort of God. Why?
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 34:18 NKJV
We know from one of the Psalms, written by David at a time when he is humbled and brought low after his sin with Bathsheba, that God delighted MORE in a broken spirit and a contrite heart than the animal sacrifices of that day.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17 NKJV
Our own pride keeps us from rending. But those who will bring themselves low in humility, those who present a broken, torn, ripped apart heart to Jesus, receive His compassion, His grace, His abundant mercy, and His truth.
BUT YOU, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in mercy and truth. Psalm 86:15 NKJV
There’s one more quality of His listed in these passages that begs our attention. His long-suffering. As long as it takes for us to rend, He is there, calling us by name, drawing us in, slow to becoming angry, and waiting… waiting… waiting… ready to pour out rich grace to our humbled, broken hearts.
