Jeremiah 3:6-13

The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the LORD. Then the LORD said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the LORD.
Jeremiah 3:6-13 NKJV

God points Judah towards Israel. The northern kingdom had been destroyed and taken away by Assyria. Israel had followed after false gods throughout her existence. God had sent His prophets to call them to Him and had worked miracles for them to show His love for them, but they had remained stubborn in their unfaithfulness. When God had finally let them reap the results of their rebellion and be carried away into their captivity, God spoke of it as a divorce. Israel was no longer His bride, they had chosen the idols as their gods.
Now Judah seems determined to follow the same path. From time to time Judah had repented and been forgiven. They have spent times when they turned back to follow God. Reforms have taken place when the nation of Judah trusted in God and did His will and many individuals let God control the path they took. Now, even though Josiah had turned to follow the LORD and was leading the nation to be faithful to God, the majority of the people were only pretending to follow God. With their mouths they said they trusted God, but in their hearts they still yearned after and trusted in the false gods. They were not quite willing to truly let God have control of their lives. For saying one thing and actually doing the opposite, God called them treacherous. Israel never pretended to turn back and follow God, they fell farther and farther into sin. Here is an important illustration of the importance of being honest to yourself as well as to God. Whatever your spiritual state is, you cannot fool God. When we say we love God and are thankful for all that He does for us, yet we continue to do all our sinful hearts desire, God knows the real us. We would be better off to admit to God and ourselves what the true state of our relationship with God is. When we are honest, God can help us move towards truth. When we lie to ourselves and convince ourselves we are following God when we are not, we often unfortunately come to believe the lie and think we are righteous when we are in fact wicked sinners with no hope. Jesus calls us, 'Return backsliding children, I am merciful, I will not cause My anger to fall on you. I will forgive you. Come to Me and I will give you life.' God wants to forgive us and establish us in His truth. We must choose between Him and ourselves. When we have lied to ourselves and convinced ourselves that we are following Him when we actually do not have a love relationship with Him, then we do not see a need to change, so we don't allow the Spirit of God to work in our hearts to bring us into a true understanding and a true repentance. We need to put aside the lies and see ourselves for the way we are, then God can fulfill His glory in us and we can be made clean. No time to pretend anymore, let's be honest and really search for the truth.

Lord,
Help me today to be honest with You and with myself. Lying to You doesn't fool you, and when I fool myself I just lock myself into the slavery of service to Satan. I need Your mercy and Your forgiveness. Help me to give up the lies that keep me from accepting both.