“Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God.”
Joel 2:12-13 (CSB)
There are moments in Scripture that stop you in your tracks…not because the words are unfamiliar, but because they refuse to let you stay comfortable. That’s what happened to me while reading the book of Joel, especially chapters 1 and 2.
Joel doesn’t start with gentle suggestions. He starts with devastation. And then, right in the middle of it, God gives an invitation that cuts straight past religious appearance and goes directly to the heart.
The Devastation Before the Invitation
Joel 1 describes a locust invasion so complete that it strips the land of everything. The grain is destroyed. The new wine dries up. The oil fails. The fields are ruined. Even human joy seems to shrivel up along with the crops.
“Joy has withered away from the hearts of the people.” (Joel 1:12)
God calls His people to respond seriously: to mourn, to fast, to cry out. He didn’t do this because He is impressed by sorrow, but because the devastation was a warning. Joel makes it clear that if they think this judgment is frightening, the Day of the Lord is even more sobering.
“Tear Your Hearts” | Not a Performance
Then Joel 2 shifts. God doesn’t only warn. He invites repentance.
And He says something that absolutely wrecked me:
Tear your hearts, not just your clothes.
In other words: don’t bring Me a show.
The people knew the outward signs of repentance. Sackcloth. Mourning. Fasting. But God wasn’t asking for an outer costume. He was calling for inner surrender. He wasn’t impressed with appearances if the heart wasn’t actually broken.
That’s what makes this so personal. Because sometimes repentance isn’t just about obvious, scandalous sin. Sometimes it’s about the things that aren’t “technically sinful,” but the Holy Spirit has clearly been convicting you about.
Not because God is arbitrary. Not because He’s trying to limit you for no reason. But because He knows what hinders your growth, dulls your discernment, weakens your witness, or grieves His Spirit within you.
And that conviction is not a club to swing at other people. It’s personal. It’s sacred. It’s between you and the Lord.
“Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God.”
Joel 2:13 (CSB)
When Conviction Gets Personal
For me, this isn’t theoretical. It shows up in everyday moments—things I say that I shouldn’t have said, reactions that weren’t wise, attitudes that didn’t reflect Christ.
Sometimes I’ll do something and immediately feel that check in my spirit:
Why did you do that?
You could have handled that differently.
You could have kept that to yourself.
So I repent. I ask the Lord to help me correct that behavior and not repeat it. And then something frustrating, but beautiful, starts to happen.
I pause.
In moments where I’m about to repeat the same behavior, I pause because the Holy Spirit is stopping me from doing something I’m going to regret. And if I’m being honest, that pause can feel frustrating because my flesh wants what it wants.
If my husband offended me earlier in the day and I have the perfect opportunity to be petty back, it’s like the enemy always serves up a perfect moment. And sometimes I fail. Sometimes I slide right into it.
But there are also so many times I bite my tongue. And I know my husband does it too. We are both a work in progress. Thank God for sanctification!
That pause is not punishment. It’s grace.
The Frustration of Sanctification
Sanctification is uncomfortable because it’s God lovingly interfering with our impulses. It’s the Spirit training us to choose what honors Christ over what satisfies the flesh.
And that kind of repentance is more than words. It’s more than appearances. It’s a heart that is truly turning back to God.
Why God Calls Us to Repent
Here’s the hope in Joel 2: God doesn’t call us to tear our hearts because He wants to crush us. He calls us because He is merciful.
Joel reminds us of God’s character:
- He is gracious and compassionate.
- He is slow to anger.
- He is abounding in faithful love.
- He relents from sending disaster.
God invites repentance because He delights to restore. He calls us to return because He is holy, yes…but also because He is good.
Return to the Lord
This isn’t about tearing fabric. It’s about tearing pride. Tearing excuses. Tearing double-mindedness. Tearing whatever we’ve been using to avoid true surrender.
Tear your hearts.
Tear your pride.
Tear your excuses.
Return to the Lord.
He is still gracious.
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
