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Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 64

"Return to Me"

Text: Jeremiah 4:1

THE INVITATION TO RETURN TO GOD

The invitation to return to God was offered genuinely. God would receive Israel-Judah back and heal their backslidings as promised. The question was whether the people would respond to God sincerely.

“‘If you will return, O Israel,’ says the LORD,
‘Return to Me;
And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight,
Then you shall not be moved.'”
Jeremiah 4:1

1. “‘If you will return, O Israel,’ says the LORD, ‘Return to Me'”

a) The response was what Israel must ponder over carefully.
b) If they would choose to return or to carry on with their sinful ways.

2. “Return to Me”

a) Israel must consider what it really means to return to God.
b) It is to the LORD Himself they must return.
i) Not to rituals.
ii) Not to the Temple.
iii) But to the Person of God Himself.

3. “And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight”

a) If they were to return to God they would have to deal with the problem of idolatry.
b) God had another word for these “deities”, He called them “abominations”.
i) Some of them demanded children to be sacrificed.
ii) Others encouraged self-mutilation.
iii) Still others promoted immoral practices.
c) These practices must be put away completely, if they were to return to God.

4. “Then you shall not be moved”

a) The promise of the LORD was that they would not be moved.
b) They need not be moved for fear of their enemies.
c) They need not be moved for any reason at all.
d) God would help them to be steadfast and strong.

What a word of encouragement to return to their faith-relationship with God!