Jeremiah is sometimes known as the weeping prophet for the tears he shed over Israel, but iI believe t was God weeping through him. In Jeremiah 3, we are given a profound insight into the heart of God.
During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord. The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares the Lord. “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. (Jer.3:6-15)
In this passage you hear the cry of God’s heart toward Israel, his unfaithful love. This is an amazing passage because in it we discover that God divorced Israel because she had committed adultery with a stable of foreign gods through her idolatry. And yet, God’s heart still yearns for her like a jilted lover. More than that, he is willing to take her back and bless her again if she will just return and acknowledge her wrongs.
More than once I have sat in my office and listened to a heartbroken spouse whose husband or wife had committed multiple affairs and showed no repentance or remorse for what they had done. When these men or women have asked me how to get their spouse back, my first thought has always been. “What is wrong with you that you would want them back?” My next thought is usually that the person sitting in the chair across from me must have no sense of self-worth or self-respect to take someone back who has repeatedly given themselves to others in tawdry one-night stands in cheap motels and office couches,
But when I look at God, his cry for Israel to return is not a symptom of low self-esteem or some expression of co-dependence, but rather an expression of a God with an undying love for his people. I am amazed at how unrelenting God’s love is and when the apostle John tells us that, “God is love,” this is what that looks like.
How often did Israel rebel? How often did they kill the prophets and finally the Son? How often did they thumb their nose at their creator and run after foreign Gods? God’s love truly is unfailing – not just for Israel but for each of us. He is the Father in the story of the prodigal son. If his relationship with Israel is any indicator, the prodigal could have drifted away again and again and the Father would have still longed for his return and celebrated the sound of his voice at the door once again.
It’s not that God is indifferent to our unfaithfulness. Discipline was still the order of the day for Israel and for us if we wander. But the heart behind the discipline is the miracle. It is a discipline tempered by a relentless love that calls us back from the edge of disaster – always.
We all wander from the Father at times, if only in our hearts or our priorities. Some of us walk away for years and violate his values over and over. But there comes a time when we think about returning and the enemy always whispers, “He won’t have you. You’ve gone too far. He despises you for what you’ve done and you don’t want to hear what he’s got to say to you!” That is a lie.
The Father’s heart always cries, “return.” Acknowledge your guilt and it is forgiven. After adultery and murder, at the moment King David declared, “ I have sinned against God,” his sin was taken away. At the moment the prodigal began to confess his failings, the Father stopped him and restored him to the family with a celebration. We never have to be afraid to return to the Father whether we have been away for a day or for years. He is waiting. His love has not failed. There is no need to hide or excuse or justify what we have done. Just say it and ask for forgiveness. God is always ready to give that and more – because he has always loved us and always will. He has always loved you, and always will. If you have been away, go home. He is waiting with the embrace of a father longing to hear your voice.
