Slices
Prepare
Remember your salvation story. Ask God to give your heart the joy of when you first became aware you were his child.
Bible passage
Unfaithful Israel
6 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. 7 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. 8 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. 9 Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretence,’ declares the Lord.
11 The Lord said to me, ‘Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12 Go, proclaim this message towards the north:
‘“Return, faithless Israel,” declares the Lord,
“I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,” declares the Lord,
“I will not be angry for ever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt –
you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favours to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,”’
declares the Lord.
14 ‘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. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘people will no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honour the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.
19 ‘I myself said,
‘“How gladly would I treat you like my children
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.”
I thought you would call me “Father”
and not turn away from following me.
20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,’
declares the Lord.
21 A cry is heard on the barren heights,
the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
and have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 ‘Return, faithless people;
I will cure you of backsliding.’
‘Yes, we will come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills
and mountains is a deception;
surely in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 From our youth shameful gods have consumed
the fruits of our ancestors’ labour –
their flocks and herds,
their sons and daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame,
and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the Lord our God,
both we and our ancestors;
from our youth till this day
we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’
4 ‘If you, Israel, will return,
then return to me,’
declares the Lord.
‘If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
and no longer go astray,
2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
you swear, “As surely as the Lord lives,”
then the nations will invoke blessings by him
and in him they will boast.’
3 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:
‘Break up your unploughed ground
and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
circumcise your hearts,
you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire
because of the evil you have done –
burn with no one to quench it.
Explore
Here we see God’s double-sided declarations of justice and grace to his people. He is angry and disappointed with Judah’s idolatry and adultery. This is made all the worse because they have seen what happened to Israel, and yet carry on sinning while putting on a show of repenting (3:8–11). Josiah’s reform of 622 bc (2 Chronicles 34,35) only went skin-deep. It didn’t pierce the hearts of Judah to effect lasting change (3:10) and they don’t truly love or honour God.
And yet... Our God is the God of ‘and yet’! And yet, despite their sin and backsliding, God calls his people to ‘Return, faithless Israel’ (3:12); ‘Return, faithless people’ (3:14,22); ‘return to me’ (4:1). He gives them a picture of a glorious future of unity as they dwell with God’s unleashed presence and power in a different Jerusalem (3:14–18). Which aspects of this are we already benefiting from? Which are we still looking forward to?
The surprise is that, as he calls his people to repent and return, they are still faithless! It is his faithfulness, and not their faithfulness, that brings them back to him as Father (v 19). Your faithlessness is not a barrier to coming back to God.
Respond
Do you ever feel as if your sin is a reason to stay away from God? Return to him, confident in your already-achieved status of child of God, bought by God’s one true, totally faithful Son (1 John 3:1).
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Exodus 7,8; Psalms 13,14
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for our Digital Solutions team as they focus on supporting and encouraging all staff to engage with our digital systems in ways that help us make more informed decisions based on the data being captured from our different ministries.
