A Perpetual Rebellion

When a man stumbles on the pavement, he does not simply lie there in the dirt; he gets back up on his feet. When a traveler turns down the wrong road and realizes his mistake, he turns around and heads back. It is common sense. Yet in Jeremiah 8:5, the Lord looks at His own people and asks an astonishing question: “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.” They fell into sin and refused to rise again. They turned away from God and stubbornly refused to turn back, choosing to hold fast to deceit rather than the truth of their Creator.

I look at my own heart, and I tremble at how easily I can drift into that same stubborn rebellion. It is one thing to stumble in a moment of weakness, but it is quite another to settle into a perpetual turning away, justifying our own path when God is calling us home. As John Gill observed, these people “turn out of the good ways of God and religion, and return not again.” They keep running down the wrong road like a horse rushing blindly into the battle, ignoring every warning the Lord mercifully places in their way.

God is not asking for a complicated religious performance today; He is asking for an honest return. I need this reminder just as much as you do. When the Lord exposes a wrong direction in our lives, we cannot afford to stubbornly keep running. We must stop, confess our folly, and turn back to the Saviour who stands ready to forgive and restore.