Jeremiah 4:1-4 – How genuine repentance looks like

Despite Judah and Israel’s waywardness and unfaithfulness, God called them to repent in the previous chapter. Here in Jeremiah 4:1-4, we see the culmination of the call to repentance. God showed them what genuine repentance would look like and entail.

Firstly, there must be 180⁰ about turn. They must return to God. Secondly, there must be a putting away of everything detestable in God’s sight. To Israel and Judah, it meant that removing and forsaking every abominable foreign deity, especially Baal. Thirdly, they must the intention to honor their word to walk faithfully with the Lord. Then fourthly, one must live a life of integrity walking according to God’s truth, justice, and righteousness. God’s assurance for His people is that when these conditions are fulfilled, they would be greatly blessed and would also become a source of blessing to the nations. And God would be glorified.

 

Then in Jeremiah 4:3-4, we see three dramatic figures used to describe genuine repentance. The first two are common to the world of farming. For a farmer to cultivate his cop effectively, there must be first the breaking up of the fallow ground. Fallow ground is hard and unploughed soil. Before a farmer sow seeds into the ground, he had to loosen any hardened soil through strenuous plowing. In much the same way, for genuine and lasting repentance to happen there must be the softening of the hardened heart. Then,  there must be the removal of weeds from the ground. Every farmer knows that weeds would grow among the seed that he had cultivated. If they are not removed, they would choke the plant in its growth process. In the same way, our walk with God can also be choked by needless clutters in our life. we must make periodical introspection in our lives to remove any “weed” that could choke our growth in spirituality.

 

The third figure used is the most important one. It talks about the circumcision of the heart. This is a term describing a person’s inward change. All our outward appearances will mean nothing if there’s no inward change. Until and unless our outward actions are accompanied by inward changes, nothing really matters.  Here the message closed with a warning to enforce the need for genuine repentance. If repentance is not genuine, the alternative would be the wrath of God demonstrated by unquenchable fire. This will be needful because the deeds committed are wicked and evil.  The wonderful outcome of genuine repentance is our ability to make obeying God a commitment in our walk with Him.   Whenever we repent make sure it is genuine of want to see a godly impact.