JEREMIAH 8:5: “Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.”
Robert Robinson was saved out of a tempestuous life of sin. Shortly after that, at the age of 23, Robinson wrote the hymn “Come, Thou Fount.” Sometime later, however, he wandered far from the Lord. One day he was traveling by stagecoach and sat beside a young woman engrossed in a book.
In God’s providence, she ran across a verse she thought was beautiful and asked him what he thought of it. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Bursting into tears, Robinson said, “Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”
The people of ancient Israel knew that situation very well. They, too, were backslidden. In fact, they had reached such a state in their backsliding that they preferred deceit to truth and stubbornly refused to respond to God’s plea through Jeremiah to repent.
The only option left was judgment. Before Jeremiah’s ministry was finished, the city would fall to the Babylonians and the people would be taken into captivity.
There is no one more unhappy than a Christian out of fellowship with His Lord. Not only does this condition bring sorrow to the backslider, but ultimately it brings judgment from God.
He loves His children too much to let them continue in this condition without His intervention. He knows they’re being robbed of all the good He has designed for them.
If you find yourself today farther away from the Lord than you once were, you’ve backslidden and you’re courting God’s judgment. Right now is the time to do something about it. Repent of your sins, confess them and be restored to fellowship with the Lord. If you will judge yourself, God won’t have to do it for you.
IF YOU’RE GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION, TURNING AROUND IS THE ONLY RIGHT DIRECTION.