“Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.” (Jeremiah 14:7, ESV)
When I was in college, I had a 1967 Toyota Land Cruiser. This four-wheel drive vehicle could go just about anywhere. I remember taking it on the sandy beach to do some fishing, through deep snow, and across muddy fields. It was virtually impossible to get it stuck. So, one day I decided to take it up the side of a mountain. It was steep, but negotiable. I could easily make it on solid dry ground. The only problem as that it had rained the night before and the ground was saturated.
I was doing pretty good while negotiating the hill. It was wooded and things went well for a while. However, I got to a point where I lost traction. Instead of going up the hill I began to slide backwards. So, I let up on the gas, stopped and put the vehicle into four-wheel drive low gear. Yet the same thing happened, I started backsliding. I was trying to get to the high ground but lost traction.
This is what happened to Israel. They were backslidden. The problem is seen in that confessed their sins were many. These sins piled up to the point where they completely lost traction on God’s perfect plan for them. When my Toyota slid backwards, I hit a tree and busted one of my side mirrors. When Israel slid backwards, they experienced the hardship of a severe drought in the land.
Because of the drought the nations cried out in confession, “our iniquities testify against us.” What they wanted was deliverance from this stating, “act, O Lord, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.” The only problem was that their confession was too late and something was missing, for the Lord did not answer their plea.
It seems that the Lord’s lack of response was harsh. Yet it was appropriate for many reasons. They had repeated warnings from the true prophets. Despite the repeated warnings, they rejected them all.
Second, the main problem was what was in their heart. The Lord looks at the heart and sees the deepest intentions. Here, all the people wanted was to be delivered from the drought and famine. The Lord knew their hearts, that they did not want Him and had no desire to turn from their own human wisdom and evil ways.
Today, there are many who view God as a cosmic sugar daddy, one who will give them anything they want. This is the way of many in our society today. Unfortunately, many churches preach such a theology and draw in those who are looking for earthly blessings rather than the Lord God who provides all by His grace.
It is my opinion that this is one of the reasons that the Lord allows both the righteous and the unrighteous to prosper. It is why both the righteous and unrighteous endure trials and struggles in life. It is because what the Lord primarily wants is the heart of people to see Him in the right light and worship Him rather than the goods of this world.
Let me put it another way. What do you think would happen if every time a believer came to true saving faith that they became filled with all worldly wealth and perfect health? Let me tell you what I think. People would be pouring into churches, not to worship God, but to worship the things of the world. The heart is the issue.
The heart was Israel’s core problem. This led to their backslidden condition and this led to their hardship. Thus, since their hearts were cold towards God He would not listen to their pleas for the draught to stop.
What does this mean to us? Churches must lead people to worship God and not the things of this earth. We must lead people to seek after God and His righteousness with hearts of full devotion. This has a lot to do with the theological underpinning of our ministries. If we lead people down a path of self-sufficiency, human reasoning, and the pursuit of this world we will find that backsliding will become the ultimate outcome. Moreover, sliding backwards will lead to an inevitable crash.
Renewing the Heart 