“Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? Why [then] is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.” (Jer 8:4-5 AV)
There is an expectation of recovery when backsliding occurs. God can work with those who wish to get better. Those who do not are destined to fall further and further from God’s restorative hand. Israel would not recognize the situation. They would not come to terms with their sin. They ignored the consequences. This passage is written to Judah and Benjamin after the carrying away of northern Israel. They had every reason to see what happens when a nation turns from God. Recent history speaks loudly here. They saw Israel carried away to Assyria. They saw the complete destruction of their brethren to the north. They were going in the same direction. There truly was no reason to think it wouldn’t end the same way. Yet, they turned a blind eye to the obvious. Like an ox plowing the field, they would not recognize they were losing ground and not gaining it. God cannot work with a soul bent on destruction. He cannot heal what refuses to be healed.
When we continually live in a state of sin, God cannot do a thing. He is resigned to chastening non-stop. He brings consequences for our choices with the intent we might learn from them. This reminds me of the time I had to push a golf cart up a slimy hill. My buddy and I were bow hunting. The soil in which we hunted was a slurry of and silt. When it rained, the ground was like quicksand. There was no traction at all. We were in a golfcart that was made to look like a four-wheeler. The owner told us it could go anywhere a four-wheeler could go. He lied! We started up a hill and there was no traction at all. The more we tried to climb, the more we slid back down the hill. I had to get out and push that cart up the hill with my buddy driving it. At my age, that was no effortless task. Loaded down with heavy clothes and gear, it felt like pushing an ox forward. There were times that no matter how much I pushed, it still slide down the hill. The best thing to do was to stop the momentum. Digging in a pushing against the cart would at least bring it to a stop. As long as that cart was bent on succumbing to gravity, there was nothing I could do. When it came to a stop, we could at least devise a plan to get the cart back on better ground. This we did and eventually made it up the hill. But there were times the weight of the cart was too much to bear and I had to let gravity have its way.
This is the dilemma which we offer God. God will not supplant our ability to make choices. He will not take the ability of self-determination away from His creation. If we can make choices, He allows for it no matter how much damage we might do along the way. We are like that cart sometimes. We are going in the wrong direction because we have chosen to do so. Because God, by principle, allows for our choices, we slide and slide and slide. Only when we come to a stop, can He push back and get us to where we are going. This point is simple. God wishes to restore His people and help them to go in the right direction. But as long as we are bent on destructive behavior, He will not. As Solomon states, He will not frustrate a man in his cause. The heart of God wishes to restore and heal the broken saint. He wants to bring us to a place of fruitfulness, purpose, and joy. He wants a better life for us that we can imagine. Sin is always the issue. Sin gets in the way. Sin is a slippery slope that only results in lost ground. Some of us need to make the simple choice to dig our heals in and stop the slide. One step at a time. We need to plant our feet on solid ground and stop the wickedness. Then, and only then, can the LORD push us back up the hill.
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