Reverence and Awe

"Rend your heart, and not your garments." — Joel 2:13

It is possible for us, as Christians, to show incredible remorse for our sin before man and ourselves, but not have godly sorrow in our hearts. As an act of openly grieving, within Jewish culture, man would tear his garment to show the extreme anguish he was experiencing. Our Lord is exhorting us to show the magnitude of our sorrow within, before God, and not merely on the outside.

There may be times when we think that we were repentant, but this verse is a wonderful verse to reveal the depth of our sin even in the midst of repentance. In this morning's devotion it is important to catch the source of true repentance--the Holy Spirit. Our prayer ought to be that the Lord would show us our sin in the light of His righteousness. Pray that He would reveal to us why our sin is to be hated and wept over. Pray that the Lord would move upon us in such a way that our repentance would cause us to rend our hearts...and may we never count it repentance if it does not reach that place of godly sorrow.