What does the word ‘relent’ mean in the song lyrics, “You Won’t Relent” by Misty Edwards?
You won’t relent until you have it all, my heart is yours.
You won’t relent until you have it all, my heart is yours.
Female inmates at the jail asked me what this word meant during a 2011 Bible study session. I replied, “It means God will never quit pursuing your heart. He is relentless in how He pursues us because He wants our whole heart. He is very jealous for our love and He wants ALL of our devotion. The greatest gift we can give God is not being in ministry, rather the greatest gift we can give Him is our wholehearted love and devotion. That’s all God truly wants. Our voluntary love.”
But today as I mulled over the definition of relent, Holy Spirit whispered “look it up. I want to show you something.” So I did. Wow.
To relent is to soften in feeling, become more mild, more amenable; to become less severe as in ‘the winds relented’. During the last twenty years of her life, my mom relented in her judgment of others. I watched her soften toward people. It was a beautiful thing.
The verb relentless also can mean ‘will not soften in determination; will not slacken or abandon, or give up.’
The verb relent can also mean to change one’s mind about some decided course, especially a hard one, as in ‘she relented in her decision to attend law school, opting for a career in culinary arts instead’.
So this morning, my meditation became a holy moment of adoration as I received a kiss from heaven in the form of deeper understanding of what RELENT means.
Our beloved King does NOT relent in pursuing us. But that is only half of it. He will not soften in His determination to have our heart. All of it. I will not relent, He says, until I have it ALL.
He will not be slack in loving us, will not be slack in going after His lost sheep; will NOT change His mind about pursuing us, even when we show NO signs of changing from our sinful ways.
HE WON’T RELENT until He has it ALL, every part of our affections, attentions —- my heart is yours, we sing!
He never slackens ….. He never gives up. Those circumstances in our lives that try us? He is going deeper in us.
The jealous flame burning in His heart for His Bride consumes His every thought.
His intensity for us is sustained and unremitting. He will not relent in loving us.
And He WILL HAVE His desire for us fulfilled ~ one day ~~ come, Lord Jesus. The Spirit and the Bride say come.
— K.A.L. August 12, 2011
Categories: Contemplation God's Love
Kathryne
Christian author and inspirational speaker of truth that makes the darkness tremble. Author of two non-fiction books at https://linktr.ee/TattooedKing
Kathryne Leach 
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