I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him (Hosea 14:4).
With this, we place Jerimiah 3:22: "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." The response follows: "Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God." The third chapter of Jeremiah might be entitled "Hope for Backsliders." In the twelfth and thirteenth verses we read: "Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God." Then we come to the great climax in verse 14: "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion."
Hope for backsliders? There is no doubt about it. Let all such, both outside church fellowship and in the church, return to God without delay.
An officer in the Indian Army had raised a tiger cub as a pet, and it seemed perfectly docile. One day as the officer was sleeping in his chair the tiger began licking his hand. As he continued to lick, blood appeared from an abrasion. Immediately the tiger's wild nature was aroused and he attacked his master, who barely escaped death. Although the animal seemed tame and domesticated, the tiger nature was still in him.
Some Christians who have been regenerated have backslidden. To all such, the Lord says, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (Rev. 2:5). The call to backsliders is the call to repentance and obedience. God will heal the sickness of backsliding. He will love us freely.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee" (Ps. 31:17).
With this, we place Jerimiah 3:22: "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." The response follows: "Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God." The third chapter of Jeremiah might be entitled "Hope for Backsliders." In the twelfth and thirteenth verses we read: "Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God." Then we come to the great climax in verse 14: "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion."
Hope for backsliders? There is no doubt about it. Let all such, both outside church fellowship and in the church, return to God without delay.
An officer in the Indian Army had raised a tiger cub as a pet, and it seemed perfectly docile. One day as the officer was sleeping in his chair the tiger began licking his hand. As he continued to lick, blood appeared from an abrasion. Immediately the tiger's wild nature was aroused and he attacked his master, who barely escaped death. Although the animal seemed tame and domesticated, the tiger nature was still in him.
Some Christians who have been regenerated have backslidden. To all such, the Lord says, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (Rev. 2:5). The call to backsliders is the call to repentance and obedience. God will heal the sickness of backsliding. He will love us freely.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee" (Ps. 31:17).
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