Joel 2:1-17

“So rend your heart, and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm.” (Joel 2:13, NKJV)

I do not think we can overestimate the goodness that comes by simply considering the goodness of God. We live in a fallen world where sin abounds. The sins of others, or our own sins, are ever before us. They exert a constant gravitational pull on us to succumb to their deception, misery and bondage. Clearly, things are not right in the world, and we become angry, frustrated or depressed that we cannot do more to change it.

But into this broken, sin-wrecked world God has interposed His goodness. Before the Fall, God’s goodness was tangible, as He met with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. But after the Fall, sin became an impenetrable barrier and black cloud masking the goodness of God from human view. Certain individuals caught a glimpse of it such as Abel, Enoch and Noah. This led to personal faith, and in the case of Noah, saved the world.

But it wasn’t until Moses that God clearly articulated it for mankind. Moses asked to see the glory of the LORD, but God said that no one could see His face and live. So He hid Moses in the rock and allowed him to see the afterglow as He passed by.

“And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.’” (Exodus 34:6–7, NKJV)

This was the same revelation available to Joel as he called the people of Judah out of their religious hypocrisy and into genuine fellowship with God. It is available for our consideration today. But we have something more: the revelation of Jesus Christ who is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person (Hebrew 1:3).

Therefore, let us meditate on His wonderful goodness today, for it is His kindness that leads us to true repentance, abounding grace, and incalculable love to others.