Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God’s desire was for His people to return and mend the relationship. He had been a Father to them and had settled them in the promised land as His inheritance to them. He gave them the privilege to call Him and urged them to follow Him faithfully. But like an unfaithful wife, Israel as a nation dealt treacherously with Him. They departed from Him and went after other lovers. But God still yearned for their return. In Jeremiah 3:15-18, He already showed them what He would do for them if they would repent and return to Him.
In verses 21-22, the prophet envisaged some of God’s people repenting and returning to the Lord. Realizing their treacherous defiance and waywardness, these penitent ones came back genuinely repentant. They were heard weeping with supplication. And here God made a promise to heal their apostasy and they would willingly return declaring to God, “You are the Lord our God.”
In
verse 23 as they returned to God, they acknowledged that worshipping those worthless
gods, especially Baal had been a deception. Instead of success and good fortune, they had calamity. So in verses 24-25, they
humbled in embarrassment and shame before God in repentance. They also acknowledge
the nation’s longstanding unfaithfulness to God. These two verses suggest that
they had set their hearts to amend their ways.
Two
takeaways. Firstly, God is the only one trustworthy and worthy of our total
trust. Walking with God will always lead us to the right destination, no matter how rough our roads may be. So let’s be committed to God and don’t deviate and
if do, remember to quickly repent. Secondly, know that apart from God everything
else we put our trust in is deceptive. No matter how much it is dressed up and how
many promises it will make, it will never deliver the ultimate goods. Remember: all that glitters is not gold.
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