Worshipping something less than God seems silly, but "watch yourself..." because idolatry is "enticing." Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 96 Q. What is God’s will for us in the second commandment? A. That we in no way make any image of God nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his Word. Summary When God was leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, he led them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire. The people knew that the Lord was with them as they looked up and saw the pillars. When things became difficult, whether it was the Egyptians chasing them, food becoming scarce, water not readily available, the people would cry out to God, and he would respond. He never left them nor forsook them. He was with them day by day. Yet, they still found the need to create a golden calf and worship the golden calf (Exodus 32). That golden calf was made by their hands after God had given them the Ten Commandments. They lacked faith, and their trust in God wavered, so they made a golden calf and worshiped that golden calf. In Deuteronomy, God is giving the Law to the people once again, and he is ensuring that they know what he commands of them. One of those commands forbids idolatry. Idolatry is the worship of an object as a god. Worshiping the golden calf was wrong. Worshiping the sun, moon and the stars is wrong. It is all idolatry. Dig Deeper It is easy to read this passage today and think, “Why would the Israelites create a golden calf, or any other object, and worship it?” God gave us the second commandment, and reinforced that commandment with passages like Deuteronomy 4:15-19 because it is so incredibly easy to fall into idolatry. The Israelites had been led by God in a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud, and yet they still created for themselves a golden calf. They had witnessed the plagues and God’s amazing power, and in a moment of weakness they turned from the Lord. We are forbidden from making an idol of any object. It may not look like a man or woman. It may not look like an animal, including birds or fish. We are not to make an idol of the sun, moon or stars. God has created all of these things, and we are not to make an idol of any of them. This week, we are going to spend time with idolatry, delving into it and gaining a better understanding of what it looks like. Idolatry today may not take the form of a golden calf, but it is just as prevalent today as it was when God first gave these commands. We are to worship the Lord alone, and not any idols. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Most Holy God, you are God alone; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Lord, I only want to worship you, not an idol or image made of you; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 Corinthians 4

God is the one solid rock in the sea of ignorance surrounding you. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 95 Q. What is idolatry? A. Idolatry is having or inventing something in which one trusts in place of or alongside of the only true God, who has revealed himself in his Word. Summary God sounds appropriately intimidating as He booms out the claims He makes in the first commandment, to not have any gods before Him, and here in Isaiah where mockingly calls out anyone or anything that could possibly dare to challenge His supremacy. God defines Himself as the first and last, different than anything else, and the one who has existed for all of eternity past, but yet knows what the future holds just as clearly. God is often referred to as 'holy,' a familiar word that most people misunderstand. 'Holy' means much more than 'perfectly righteousness.' Passages like this one in Isaiah that portray God as being entirely 'other,' and entirely above all things, do a good job of explaining the concept of holiness. The first thing many people associate 'idols' with are artistically formed statues, both large and small. Certainly that was the prevailing idea that God was referring to as He addressed this ancient near eastern culture, calling out those 'who make idols.' But the concept of idolatry is much deeper, and is just as convicting to us as modern people who would think it quite strange to bow down to an image. Whereas God Almighty refers to Himself here as the 'Rock (v8),' the very foundation of knowledge, wisdom and power, idols represent 'blindness, ignorance and shame' that 'can profit nothing (v9-10). So although God sounds intimidating in this passage, notice that He makes this pronouncements to bring you peace! He says to you, "Do no tremble, do not be afraid (v8)." Life does not need to be a chaotic balancing act filled with uncertainty. God is calling you to firmly plant your feet on Him, the one true "Rock," who is "Israel's King and Redeemer (v6)." Dig Deeper Our catechism defines an idol as anything "in which one trusts in place of or alongside the one true God." Since God has revealed Himself in His Word, anytime people change, add or subtract from what His Word says, they are breaking the first commandment and placing their own truth before God's. They are committing idolatry. Most of us would never dare do such a thing. But ignoring God's Word is every bit as idolatrous as changing, adding or subtracting from it, and most people, including those who identify themselves as Christians, have become completely ignorant of what the Bible says about a whole host of issues, not the least of which is who and what God is. Make sure that you are not part of the idolatrous crowd who "will be put to shame." Know your Bible. Keep reading it everyday as you are right now. Join the Lord's people every time His call to worship rings out in your church. Eagerly anticipate what God will teach you on the Lord's Day, and then spend the entire week reflecting on what you heard. This is how it is God keeps your feet fastened to Him, the solid Rock. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is the first and the last; apart from Him there is no God; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will not succumb to idolatry by not knowing what God has revealed about Himself and His creation in His Word. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 Corinthians 3

Warning: what Jesus says here will absolutely crush you. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 94 Q. What does the Lord require in the first commandment? A. That I, not wanting to endanger my very salvation, avoid and shun all idolatry, magic, superstitious rites, and prayer to saints or to other creatures. That I sincerely acknowledge the only true God, trust him alone, look to him for every good thing humbly and patiently, love him, fear him, and honor him with all my heart. In short, that I give up anything rather than go against his will in any way. Summary Jesus makes three counter-intuitive claims that are really hard to understand in this short passage: Those who love their family more than Jesus are not worthy of Him: This passage comes on the heels of an even harder saying from Jesus, that He "did not come to bring peace, but a sword," and that He came to set family members against one another! Certainly as a Christian you must love, honor, and respect your family. Thankfully, in most cases you can glorify God in how you relate to your family as you fulfill the numerous scriptural commands to care for your parents and children. But as soon as your familial allegiance begins to eclipse your allegiance to God, it becomes an idol. Those who do not 'take up their cross' are not worthy of Christ: D.A. Carson says it well, "'Taking one’s cross' does not mean putting up with some awkward or tragic situation in one’s life, but painfully dying to self. In that sense, every disciple of Jesus bears the same cross." It means that process we reflected on last week - dying to sin and coming to new life in Christ - must be your top priority. We all stand convicted of idolatry when we see how far down the priority list this effort actually is - if, in fact, it even shows up at all. Those who 'find' their life will lose it: We live in a world defined by a philosophy called existentialism, in which each of us can define our own reality, morals, and objectives. It's easy to 'find' yourself in a made up reality. Jesus here only echos what His Father had said millenia before: that you will find true life when we lose your own definitions (gods) for the sake of Christ. This is what it means in our day and age to have no other gods before me. Dig Deeper I do not think it is a harsh judgment to say that the most obvious feature of the life of the Christian Church today is, alas, its superficiality. - Martin Lloyd Jones, circa 1959 Putting other 'gods' before the one, true, triune God is the very definition of superficiality. If these words of Jesus don't 'cut you to the heart (Acts 2:37),' stop what you're doing and read them again. We're not even 10% of the way into God's law, and already the load is crushing. Let go of whatever 'gods' you have placed before the One True God - your family, your sins, even your pursuit of 'happiness' - and cling to the cross of Christ. Be thankful that even this most heinous sin of idolatry has been paid for on the cross, and that as a redeemed sinner you've been set free in order to fully submit yourself to God. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who must be held above all things. ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that the Holy Spirit will help you prioritize your life so that nothing stands between you and following Christ. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 Corinthians 2

It does no good to think you're standing firm if your feet aren't on the solid rock. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 94 Q. What does the Lord require in the first commandment? A. That I, not wanting to endanger my very salvation, avoid and shun all idolatry, magic, superstitious rites, and prayer to saints or to other creatures. That I sincerely acknowledge the only true God, trust him alone, look to him for every good thing humbly and patiently, love him, fear him, and honor him with all my heart. In short, that I give up anything rather than go against his will in any way. Summary What a way to describe the people of Israel as they left their slavery and began their journey to the Promised Land: that as they did so, "they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ." But what follows is one of the scariest lines in the Bible. Even though these people were accompanied by Christ and in a sense were feeding off of Him, "with most of them God was not pleased." This first generation of Israelites had been marked as God's people as they passed through the Red Sea; Paul even uses the word 'baptism' to describe this. But their actions and attitudes told a much different story: indulging in revelry, sexual immorality, grumbling and more. It was for this idolatry that they paid a heavy price. Thousands of them - people who had been initiated into God's covenant - were killed at God's command by the Destroyer (v10). Dig Deeper We live in a world that prizes toleration, even by some in the Church. As long as people claim the name of Jesus, we're told, their other behaviors and beliefs shouldn't really matter. This tolerance-above-all attitude is completely inconsistent with the first commandment: You shall have no other gods before Me. Today's passage tells us to be warned by the example of these fallen Israelites. Let Paul's exhortation be seared into your mind: If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you do not fall! (v12) Some people like to pit Jesus against Paul, and sometimes even God the Father, as if Jesus is all about love and acceptance while the God of the Old Testament and Paul ruin everything with their rigid doctrines and rules. But it was Jesus Himself who said that not everyone who comes to Him saying 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus will tell some who claimed His name but would not bow their knee to God alone, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evil-doers!" (Matthew 7:21-23) If reading these warnings cause you to worry, that's actually a good sign. It's the Holy Spirit at work, pricking your conscience with God's Word so that you continue to cling to God through Christ in all things. Be reminded that "God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear (v13)." One of the 'ways out' that God provides so that you can endure temptation is to regularly remind and warn you about the serious consequences of breaking the first commandment. "Dear friends, flee from idolatry." Be sure that you do not put anything before God in your life. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is faithful and just; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God will convict you of your idolatries, so that you can repent of them and return to Him; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 Corinthians 1

Ten commandments?? How about 10x10x10? Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 93 Q. How are these commandments divided? A. Into two tables. The first has four commandments, teaching us what our relation to God should be. The second has six commandments, teaching us what we owe our neighbor. Summary He started off so well. This rich young man asked Jesus the question that should be everyone's top priority: "what good thing must I do to be saved?" All of us - every person born since Adam - instinctively knows there's a relationship between salvation and doing good things. But this young man is smarter than most, for he can see that not everything that seems to be good actually is. He wants to focus his efforts on what really counts. Jesus didn't need to think about the question for too long. Although it's a profoundly important question to ask, it's not at all hard to answer: if you want salvation, perfectly follow the commands of the One who is good. Here's where things started to go off the rails for the young man. He asked Jesus, "Which ones?" It's moments like this that we really see the patience of our Savior. He would have been totally justified to burst out laughing at the glaring stupidity of the question, or even to have the young man instantly smote with fire from heaven for daring to suggest that some of God's commands are more important than others. But Jesus doesn't do what the rest of us would have done if we were in His position. Jesus continues to engage the man in conversation. Keep the second table of the law, Jesus tells the man. In other words, love your neighbor as yourself. At this, a smile likely came upon the young man's face. After all, he had certainly never murdered, committed adultery, stolen or lied. Or so he thought as he confidently reported this to Jesus, at the same time wondering if there was a detail or two Jesus could suggest he ought to add to the list, just to be really sure. Somehow the man missed the fact that Jesus had said nothing about the first table of the law: those first four commandments that teach us what our relationship ought to be with the One who said, "Be holy, because I am holy." Jesus goes on to tell the man that perfection requires much more than following ten commandments. After all, nowhere does the Bible command a person to give away all that he has. True godliness includes all of the implications of both tables of the law, whether they've been written down or not. Both this rich young man and the disciples are absolutely crushed by Jesus' answer. Who could possibly meet this exponential criteria for salvation? Dig Deeper We understand God's law to have three purposes: It shows us how sinful we are; It provides a general guide for how society should behave; It shows the saved how to live gratefully. The Heidelberg Catechism properly focuses on the third use of the law: gratitude. But don't forget that you will never really be truly grateful unless you first understand your guilt. This is why we read some portion of God's law in our worship services, so that we are regularly convicted by it; so that each week we're forced to ask with the disciples, "who then can be saved?" So when we hear Jesus answer, "with man, [salvation] is impossible, but with God all things are possible," we can look at these two tables of the law as a guide for grateful living in response to God's grace freeing us from our exponential guilt. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the One who is good; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for His law, that we've met its conditions in Christ, and pray that we';; use His law as a guide for grateful living. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 16

God's Word can be described many ways, but 'boring' isn't one of them. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 92 simply reproduces the Biblical text of the ten commandments Summary We're going to focus on the beginning and ending of our passage today, since we'll be learning lots about the commandments in the middle in the weeks to come. Notice how the passage begins: And God spoke We could turn multiple places in the Bible for a demonstration of God's awesome power at work in nature. Indeed, the Israelites had just witnessed it firsthand for themselves, having walked between two towering walls of ocean as the crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. But as amazing as God's command of nature is, the best demonstration of His power can be found when He speaks. Remember the opening words of the Bible, which record God creating all that is out of nothing by simply repeating the phrase "and God said..." Jesus Himself is called the Word, and His ministry begins with God's voice booming from heaven that Jesus is His son, whom He loves. The book of Romans begins with an announcement that the gospel - the proclamation of the good news of salvation - is "the power of God..." Imagine being there, hearing these words come out of the fire (Dt. 10:4), accompanied by thunder and lightning (v18). It would quickly become clear that the ten commandments are so much more than a historic document to hang in a courtroom or to doze off to as you hear them recited for the umpteenth time in church. These words, just like the gospel, are the power of God, and necessary for you to know well and follow as you live in Christ. Dig Deeper The Israelites didn't miss God's demonstration of verbal power: They "trembled with fear" and "stayed at a distance," convinced that if God were to utter another word to them they would instantly die. They knew they were not worthy to come face to face with God, so they sent a representative up them mountain in their place. As we begin our nearly three month study of these commandments, we're beginning with a much different attitude than these Israelites had. We're coming to them as people who have peace with God because we've been justified through faith in Jesus Christ. We come to them in gratitude because in Christ, we've fully met the conditions of God's law. As Moses reminds us, these commandments are given "so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning (v20)." AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The Lord our God, who brought you out of slavery to sin; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for giving us the tools and instructions to live as the holy people He's declared us to be in Christ. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 15

"The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart." Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 91 Q. What do we do that is good? A. Only that which arises out of true faith, conforms to God’s law, and is done for his glory; and not that which is based on what we think is right or on established human tradition. Summary Throughout this week, it should be becoming clear that God desires genuine repentance and transformed hearts and lives—not mere outward religious rituals. In Matthew 15, we get to listen to an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes. It is a typical interaction between these two groups: the Pharisees and scribes try to trip Jesus up on a technicality of the law. Jesus flips it around, showing their hypocrisy and hardness of heart. In this instance, they want to cast shame on Jesus’s disciples for not ritually washing their hands before they ate. The Mosaic law would have required cleansing before sacrifices, but the blanket rule to wash hands before every meal was an additional law tradition followed by the Pharisees. Jesus then points them back to following an actual commandment and the principle behind the fifth commandment of ‘honoring your father and your mother.’ They had altered the fifth commandment to their liking. Jesus then calls out their hypocrisy of seeking to condemn his disciples for breaking one of their traditions while the Pharisees blatantly disregarded God’s commands. He invokes Isaiah 29:13 to show they are good at speaking eloquently and religiously, but their heart is not in the principle of the matter. Dig Deeper The second half of Q&A 91 deals with things that may seem like good works but are forms of tradition or legalism. Legalism exalts the law above everything else, plus promotes a mindset that believes it is possible to follow the law apart from grace. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were excellent at writing new rules to help them keep other laws. Yet, Jesus' words here Matthew 15, like many of the confrontations, show they thought they could keep the letter of the law without holding to the spirit of the law, while at the same time burdening others with additional rules. I had a professor in seminary who liked to emphasize that in counseling with the Word of God, “the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.” The Pharisees missed this in our text today, leading to futile worship. True faith in Christ leads to what is behind God’s commands: loving Him above all and loving our neighbor. Typically our own manufactured extra-biblical rules burden our neighbor and hinder our own worship of God if we elevate them to the level of divine law. God has set out his moral law to us in His Word, and the catechism will soon expound upon those implications. Knowing God leads to worshiping Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23–24). So just as one helps his spouse around the house out of love, not because it is on a list of ‘to-do’s,’ so too, you ought to serve the Lord out of love and gladness. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Heavenly Father, who gives us His laws and commands for our benefit; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that not only will you 'honor God with your lips,' but that your heart will be near to Him. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 14

Want a life filled with good fruit? Then abide in Christ! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 91 Q. What do we do that is good? A. Only that which arises out of true faith, conforms to God’s law, and is done for his glory; and not that which is based on what we think is right or on established human tradition. Summary Jesus’s disciples would have been familiar with the hillside vineyards all around Judea. They would have also been familiar with the Old Testament metaphor of Israel as God’s vineyard (Psalm 80:8–16; Isaiah 5:1–7; Jer. 2:21). So Jesus claiming that He was the true vine was another way that He was saying He was the faithful Israel. Israel had been judged for not bearing the fruit and instead rebelled against God in idolatry, leading to exile from the promised land. Now Jesus is showing Himself as the genuine source of abundant life and everything good and pleasing to God. This viticultural reference is something we can still understand today. A healthy vine produces excellent and healthy fruit. The vinedresser prunes where it isn’t fruitful so that it can make the choicest clusters of grapes. If you visit a vineyard today, they will still describe the years of work and care that goes into the success of growing the desired fruit. Here Jesus describes the success of good works as just like the fruit of the vine; the requirement is to be united to Him. A Christian’s union with Christ includes producing what Christ provides: the Father’s love and obeying His commandments. The passage provides the three characteristics of good works which Q&A 91 provides: true faith that abides in Christ, glorifying God by bearing much fruit, and keeping His commandments. Dig Deeper There are various methods for picking out the best fruit in the produce aisle at the grocery store. For some, fruit is merely looking at the outside appearance, but melons are particularly tricky since they have a thick rind and skin. Some of you know how to look for the round shape, a proper creamy spot on the skin, and the right pitch to listen for when you knock on the outside of a good and juicy watermelon. Like watermelon at the store, Jesus describes how the good fruit of His kingdom has evidence of goodness on both the outside and inside. God’s Word nourishes you, which then motivates you by God’s love and delight to follow God’s commands. The beautiful fruit that you bear brings glory to the vintner. And God is pleased to mark it as His own, as if you’d see a cluster of grapes labeled “From the Kingdom of God.” Faith receives all it needs from Christ in salvation, and the Spirit produces all the blessings of salvation in the life of the Christian. Being connected to the true vine will inevitably lead to producing good works. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb. 11:6). AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Heavenly Father who is the source of every good and perfect gift; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will abide in God’s love, words, and commands; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 13

Don't buy into the empty promises of sin, but see the joy of a new-life in Christ Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 90 Q. What is the coming-to-life of the new self? A. It is wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a delight to do every kind of good as God wants us to. Summary The structure of the Heidelberg Catechism follows a similar pattern which you may notice in many of the New Testament letters: The problem of sin. The salvation from sin is through Jesus Christ. A saved life is a changed life of gratitude for that salvation. Paul’s letter to the Colossians also follows this outline. In chapter 3, Paul uses the language that is found in this week’s questions and answers— putting to death the old self and putting on the new self. He begins with the Christian’s union with Christ’s resurrection, “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ” (3:3). Jesus ascending to glory opens the way for his followers to follow Him there. Paul’s call to the Christian uses the strong language of “put to death,” all that which is evil and impure. He lists all the ways this old self acts: sexual immorality, covetousness, anger, slander, etc. He tells us not to mess around with sin and sinful desires. These old clothes need not just be stuffed away in the back of a closet but be thrown out and burned. The new clothes include all the virtues and characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, and thankfulness. These are not how salvation is earned, but evidence of a saved life. Dig Deeper Since the serpent entered the garden, humans have been deceived into thinking that sin is more desirable and fun than living a righteous and holy life before God. When you think of holiness, or your idea of a ‘religious person,’ you might not think of someone smiling, laughing, and enjoying themself. But that's exactly how the catechism describes a life of wholehearted joy in God through Christ. The coming-to-life of the new self includes a renewed perspective and a new heart and desires. It means recognizing that the pleasures of sin are empty and temporary, but what God gives us is truly amazing and full of delights that last forever (Ps. 16:11). Colossians 3 describes a vision of a community working in perfect harmony and giving thanks to God in all things. This reality is more than new clothes, but a new life. Everything will not automatically start looking like this in its completion in this life, which is why Paul commends us to “Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (3:16). A fitting Psalm to drive home the message of the Questions and Answers this week is Psalm 51. David beautifully describes the posture of godly repentance and restoration to the joy of salvation. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is our gloriously holy and loving God; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask the Holy Spirit to help you set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 12

Killing sin is a matter of life and death. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 89 Q. What is the dying-away of the old self? A. It is to be genuinely sorry for sin, to hate it more and more, and to run away from it. Summary The prophets in the Old Testament brought God’s Word to the people of Israel, warning the people against impending judgment due to their sins and the consequences of breaking their covenant with their Lord. Yet the message always included a statement of deliverance and salvation for God’s people who repented. One of the most frequent imperatives the prophets give is to “return,” a rightful return to God. It is very similar to how we understand the word “repent:” to turn away from sin and back to God. In line with the message of Joel, the old Puritan, John Owen, famously said, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.” Joel begins his message with the immediate judgment of locusts destroying the land, but follows up with a call to repentance. In chapter 2, he proclaims a more distant yet terrifying day of judgment. And at the end of this, he poses the question, “The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?” (Joel 2:11b). And Joel follows up with another call to the people to prepare for that day by turning back to their Heavenly Father. The call to repentance in our text begins with a promise declaration from God: “even now, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” The repentance Joel describes is a comprehensive change in direction that includes an inward transformation that shows itself visibly. Esther 4:3 also describes these elements: “In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.” However, the Lord wants more than an outward display of how sorry you are, but to be genuinely sorry for the sin, so Joel writes, “Rend your heart and not your garments.” Dig Deeper Another common thread in the Old Testament prophets is a revelation of God’s purpose behind communicating the message of doom: God has provided an alternative route. God sent the prophets to remind the people of God’s covenant promises. Their disobedience would lead to curses, but returning to their covenant-Lord would only serve to their benefit (see Deuteronomy 28 for a listing of covenant blessings and curses that come up in prophetical books). Just as Jesus showed in the parable of the lost son, the Father desires a return to Him and is eager to bless and restore those who run to Him in repentance and faith (Luke 15:11–32). You can know this because of how God's character is described throughout Scripture, including here in Joel 2:13, “for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” Those are things a life embracing sin and temptation can never promise. The promises of being sorry for sin, hating it, and running from it are always worth embracing because God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins (1 John 1:9). AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Confess your sins and remember what a faithful Savior you have to forgive you for them; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 11