If you Return

September 24, 2016

Jeremiah 4:1

Jeremiah 4:1, “If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return.”

If you; that sure sounds like Israel, like us, had the ability to exercise free will and yet with that free will many of us make bad choices, and so did they, and today it is in vogue to blame them or God or anyone but self.  So Israel has the ability to choose God’s ways, God’s authority over them, or they can stay in the self-imposed prison the desires of the flesh and the tribulation that come with those choices.

It is very clear God has offered an invitation to Israel, and He has also sent one to each of us no matter where you find yourself.  God not only sent the message but along with it some very sound advice, “to me you should return.”  Did they not hear the invitation and the information, or was there other reasons, could it be they were following men and worldly desires?  Another thing to consider were those who they trusted to guide them spiritually also trying to win the favor of people and refusing the ways of God?

As we reflect on this verse and the invitation and advice, the question has to be asked by self, as one looks into the mirror, why am I not heeding the counsel of the Holy Spirit?  My first thought is a word from the prophet Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Could it be you trust Google and go there more than to the written word of God?  Could it be you listen to talk radio and the evening news more than you stop and seek time with your Creator?  Has noise become a comfort and you would not or cannot hear the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit of the One and only God, who has given you both advice and an invitation to join Him?  All of these I’ve encountered, I put my trust in mere men, and I’ve looked to government and our military even to our Law enforcement people, and ignored the One whose thoughts are much higher and ways that often make no sense but are always on the spot.

Now this is some good news: The invitation and the advice are for you and me today so that free will comes into play, what will you do with Jesus?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice