Lenten Series: Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours-Is My Heart Really In This?

Please take a look at the post from 4/1/2009 to see how this blog works.

In our conversations with God over his Word, it can be amazing how much we can be changed by the fewest of words. Today our passage appears during the morning hour (Lauds) and comes from the prophet Joel. It is not even one half of a verse.

Rend your hearts and not your garments. Joel 2:13a

Joel's prophecy seems to have been written just after a severe locust plague had struck Palestine. The people of God had been enjoying a high degree of prosperity and peace. but spiritually and morally they had declined greatly. Now the prosperity had been devoured and questions had emerged concerning the security of their nation and their families. It was clear that this reversal of fortune was God's way of bringing about a change of direction in the spiritual condition of the people. Whatever they had lost in the plague and whatever they feared from ambitious enemies had coalesced into a challenge to reconsider their priorities and lifestyles. They needed repentance. And so, the people put on all of the externals of repentance: fasting, mournful singing, donning sackcloth or tearing their own clothing. But apparently, this was not what God was after. In the verse just before our passage, 2:12, God is saying this has to be done with all your heart. Is this what was missing in Israel? Could this be missing in me this Lent?

This could be tough. But let's be bold at this point and speak to God through this passage and let him speak to us; our behavior and our disposition. I encourage you to take time, and let God's Spirit lead you to a heart to heart with your Father.

What an unexpected encounter for me this was. I had a vivid picture of myself rending (tearing) my shirt. It had an abrupt, almost violently destructive sense to it. Certainly an extreme element associated with the behavior. I spent the next 40-45 minutes considering what it would mean to do such a work to my heart. A torn shirt has lost its value. The fact that I did the tearing says that I have displaced its value. Perhaps God is telling me that the valuable things that fill my heart must be displaced as well. Not to say those things in and of themselves are worthless, but they become that way if they are valued ahead of my love for and obedience to God, himself. Specifically, my heart toward my loved ones, my heart toward the ministry, my many loves in the culture; the arts, athletics, academics, and so much more, all of these may be rivals for my affection rather than demonstrations of my allegiance to my Creator. And what of those lesser and darker things residing in my heart. I frequently harbor them rather than seek their displacement. And yet, I hear God's beckoning word, "...rend your heart and not your garments." When it comes to repentance, is my heart really in this?

Lord of all, even of my heart, give me the grace to return to you again and again when I displace you with a rival for my affection and attention. Teach me to abruptly and violently rip the fabric of my loves if they at all begin to displace you, the rightful First One of my heart. I ask this in the Name of your Son, Jesus.