What does it mean to REND your heart?

In this passage, he is talking about rending our "internal" hearts and not our "external" garments.

Joel 2:13 "And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." KJV

How does one go about rending?

Grace,
Doug

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a Jesus freak

Hi Doug,

This is talking about repentance. Joel 2:12 says Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye [even] to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

And Joel 2:14 says Who knoweth [if] he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; [even] a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?

To rend one's heart literally means to tear away. So how does this occur? As we come to the Lord in repentance and we say Lord take this (whatever the sin) out of my heart because I don't want anything between my heart and yours Jesus.

The external tearing in my view would be something like this. Doug why don't you just try harder? This is simply a flesh deal because it's attempt to repent in our own power and strength. The end result of this type of "repentance" is that I may try harder but I haven't asked the Lord to tear this thing away and so it's still there. So in other words, there's no change of heart.

I'm not a theologian but that's just what the Lord gave me about this. Hope it helps.

Here's what the New Living Translation says: 13Don't tear your clothing in your grief; instead, tear your hearts." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is not easily angered. He is filled with kindness and is eager not to punish you.

and the Contemporary English version

Don't rip your clothes to show your sorrow. Instead, turn back to me with broken hearts. I am merciful, kind, and caring. I don't easily lose my temper, and I don't like to punish.

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Ed Pugh