Turn Around
Today’s Passage – Jeremiah 1 – 3 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – John 21; Psalms 66 – 70; Proverbs 14)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 119:105
Read the “0814 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Brief chapter summaries
Chapter 1 Jeremiah’s call and commission. God chooses him before birth, appoints him a prophet to the nations, and overcomes his sense of youth and inadequacy. Two visions confirm the message: the almond branch (God is watching over His word to perform it) and the boiling pot facing north (judgment is coming from the north). Jeremiah is set as a fortified city against kings, priests, and people; they will fight him but not prevail because God is with him.
Chapter 2 God’s indictment of Judah’s apostasy. He recalls their early devotion (as a young bride following Him in the wilderness) and contrasts it with their present forsaking of Him, “the fountain of living waters,” for broken cisterns that can hold no water. They have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit, gone after Baal, and polluted the land. Leaders (priests, shepherds/pastors, prophets) have failed. The people claim innocence while practicing idolatry and trusting in foreign alliances and false gods.
Chapter 3 Spiritual adultery and the call to return. Judah is portrayed as an unfaithful wife who has played the harlot with many lovers. Northern Israel had already been put away for her adultery, yet Judah saw it and became even more treacherous. God still invites them: “Return, ye backsliding children… for I am married unto you.” He promises restoration, shepherds after His own heart, and a future in which Judah and Israel will be reunited under one leadership—if they truly return.
Before I share the my main thought from the Scripture this morning, I just wanted to point out from the passage that the writer, Jeremiah, was a hand made child of God that was uniquely designed by Him to be a prophet to Israel and Judah. (see Jeremiah 1:4 – 6) God has also made you and and I, and wants to use us in a special way to fellowship with Him, glorify Him, and fulfill His plan for the ages. We are not here by accident. We were specially created the way we are on purpose, and for a purpose.
Now for today’s main thought:
“They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 3:1)
Throughout the history of Israel, the people of God have gone through periods where they would fall away from God. Here in this passage the word “backsliding” is used seven times. Here in this passage Jeremiah is pleading with the backsliding people of Israel to come back to the Lord. Our God is awesome! Who else but God would love these people and keep taking them back, even though they would turn against Him over and over. He never gives up on His children. I must confess that I have a tough time forgiving people in the same way that God has forgiven me. I want to write people off; but God is not like me. He continues to reach out to those who have forsaken Him. Notice what God required of the people in order for them to come back into a right relationship with Him:
“Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 3:13)
“Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:” (Jeremiah 3:14)
God says that if the people would acknowledge their sin, and then turn, He would take them back. Turning means that they would put away all of the things that they were doing that God was displeased with. This is a pretty good definition of repentance, which involves more than just acknowledging.
The people of God today could follow this same simple formula in order to come back to their God. We must acknowledge where we have gone wrong. It may not be some deep sin or rebellion. It may be just apathy, coldness, or laziness. Then we have to confess it to God and turn away from it. God loves us deeply and wants more than anything for us to be in love with Him. If you have “slidden” away from God, return again to the Lord.