Good Morning:
Joel 2:12. "Yet even now," says the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13. and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil.
Ash Wednesday is the start of our preparing for Easter. An examination of who we are before God. The prophet Joel urged the people of his time to "REND" their hearts not their hearts not their clothes before God. Rend or ripping clothes was a way of showing anguish in Joel's time. What Joel is saying is anyone can rip their clothes, but ripping your heart before God - showing anguish for your sins- is what God desires.
