relents

This week we begin worship with:

Joel 2:12-13

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,

    “return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

    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 he relents over disaster.

Last week we came to understand that God cannot change (James 1:17). Yet this week we are told that God “relents” (nāḥam). The word is passive and has been translated “repenteth Him of evil” (KJV). God is not changing we are. 

So, the course of our destiny changes as we turn from our wickedness and into the arms our gracious Lord!