“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
And rend your heart and not your garments.”
Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.
Who knows whether He will not turn and relent
And leave a blessing behind Him,
Even a grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?
Joel 2:12-14
No matter how many times we disappoint God and try His patience, what matters to Him is relationship: "Yes, you've messed up. Repent and and come back to My arms!"
The word "relent" is remarkable. Almighty God -- always correct in His assessments -- occasionally relents, softening what He originally had planned.
There's an exquisite little picture in verse 14:
Who knows whether He will not turn and relent
And leave a blessing behind Him,
Even a grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?
All that we can ever offer Him comes first from Him. I have nothing to contribute but my rent heart -- even the events that lead me to rend my heart before Him are part of His blessing. That last bit may be hard to accept. But how else to let us know that there is a higher way? He is the higher way.
"Yet even now..."
God doesn't tally in the same way we do. There isn't a maximum number of errors we can make, after which He gives up. Jesus paid for everything.
"Yet even now..."
Everything. Even that.
All He asks is that we return.