The Cure

"If you, Israel, will return, then return to me," declares the Lord. "If you put your destestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray and if in a truthful, just and rightous way you swear, 'As surely as the Lord lives,' then the natons will invole blessings by him and in him they will boast " Jeremiah 4:1-2

That first line is what captured my attention. "If you, Israel, will return, then return to me" It's almost pleading. I can hear the breaking of God's heart in that sentence. "Return to me, let me bless you, let me LOVE you" but Israel kept going back to their idols, time after time. They are just like us. In times of good we worship everything but the Lord; in times of distress He is one of the first people we cry out to and it's usually "Lord, why me?" That's what Israel did. When Israel cried out "Why me?" God answered them point blank "Because you have forsaken me."
But time and time again God calls them to return. Israel says they will but it is an empty promise. God wants sincerity. "If you will return...then return to me"
Once we start sinning it is hard to stop. Greed, lust, and a hundred other things get in our way.
But God gives us hope "Return faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding" (Jeremiah 3:22a) The word that popped out at me in this verse is "cure". A cure is not instanteous, it's gradual. The disease slowly goes away and you get better. It may take time to take into effect. It may be days, weeks, or months before you see a change. But you trust the cure to make you better. And that is what we need to do with God. We need to let him cure us. To trust him and the work he is doing within our soul.
So yeah...I was reading...and there's my thoughts. =)