Hello, thanks for joining in today's devotional from Our Daily Bread.

I'm Amy Boucher Pie and I called our reading The Gift of Repentance.

No, I didn't do it.

Jane heard her teenage son's denial with a sinking heart, for she knew he

wasn't telling the truth. She breathed a prayer asking God for help before asking Simon again what

happened. He continued to deny he was lying until finally she threw her hands up in exasperation.

Saying she needed a time out, she began to walk away when she felt a hand on her shoulder

and heard his apology.

He responded to the convicting of the Holy Spirit and repented.

In the Old Testament book of Joel, God called his people to true repentance for their sins as he

welcomed them to return to him wholeheartedly. God didn't seek outward acts of remorse,

but rather that they would soften their hard attitudes, saying, rend your heart and not your garments.

Joel reminded the Israelites that God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding

in love. We might find confessing our wrongdoing difficult, for in pride we don't want to

admit our sins.

Perhaps we fudge the truth and we justify our actions by saying it was only a little white

lie. But when we heed God's gentle yet firm prompting to repent, he'll forgive us and cleanse us

from all our sins. We can be free of

guilt and shame, knowing we're forgiven. The passage from Scripture for today's Our

Daily Bread Devotional comes from Joel, Joel 2, verses 12 through 14.

Even now, declares the Lord,

return to me with all your heart,

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