Contemplative Bible Reading

Joel 2:13 (New Living Translation)

Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
    but tear your hearts instead.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
    He is eager to relent and not punish.

“God’s gonna getcha for that” (George Jones and Tammy Wynette)

This is often our view of God. Have a little too much fun and stick your toe across some line drawn by some person and WHAMO! God gets me for that. God is just sitting up there watching for me to slip up so He can punish.

Hmmm, what  is the last phrase of the above verse? Relent and not punish? That disagrees with good old George and Tammy and if you can’t trust a classic country song, well, what can you trust?

And then there are the preceding phrases about mercy, compassion, and unfailing love. Hmmm. Have to think about those, too.

There is much I can write about becoming a slave to sin. Let’s save that for some other day and other blog post. For today, let’s consider God’s mercy, compassion, and how He desires to relent on the punishment.