“You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.” (Jeremiah 8:4–5, ESV)
In 1973 I attended the United States Army Ranger School. While there we had a phase in Florida that included a 12-day combat patrol. On one of these, I was chosen to be the point man on a patrol that took us from the Yellow River through the swamp to a clearing where we would dig. The patrol went from daylight hours, through sunset until about two hours before sunrise. We spend all night moving through the darkness in the swamp.
On the way I was not only the point man, but also the navigator. I constantly referred to my compass to ensure that we got to the correct location. On the route, we encountered a wooded area with pine trees and saplings. I would kind of run through the saplings with no problem and weave left and right around the large pines to maintain a correct heading.
Well, I under estimated the size of one of the saplings. When I tried to walk through it, it bent over a bit and then slung me back, lifting me off the ground and slamming me on my back, my rucksack cushioning my fall.
So, what did I do? I just laid there. No, I did not just lay there. I did what any sane person would do. I got up on my feet again. This is the picture that the Lord pained for Israel to understand.
Israel had fallen into apostasy, lawlessness, and idolatry. What do fallen people do naturally? They get back up when they fall. This is what sane people do. However, the Israelites were not acting in a sane manner. Fallen in sin, they did not repent. By repenting they would have gotten back up and on the straight and narrow way of God’s will.
Many people today have the same problem. They have stumbled and fallen off the path of righteousness. However, rather than getting up and turning to the Lord, they are satisfied to stay in their fallen state. What are we to do in response to this? We are to do exactly what God called Jeremiah to do.
We who are believers are to do two things. First, when we stumble, we must repent and get back up again. It is common sense, the normal thing to do.
Second, when we see others who are in a fallen state, we have the words of reason to share with them. The only reasonable thing for them to do is to get up. They can only do this through faith in Jesus which will result in repentance. They must get up from their fallen state and thus, proceed on the path of righteousness.
Renewing the Heart 