Backsliding

We are wise when we respond to God.

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 8:4-9

Sin and Treachery

“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.
I have paid attention and listened,
    but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
    saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
    like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
Even the stork in the heavens
    knows her times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane
    keep the time of their coming,
but my people know not
    the rules of the Lord.

“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
    and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
    has made it into a lie.
The wise men shall be put to shame;
    they shall be dismayed and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    so what wisdom is in them?


Reading Questions: What was God’s complaint about Israel? What is Backsliding? Why weren’t they wise? Why are the birds wise?

Journal Writing: What is an important truth from the Bible reading? Why do you need to know that truth?

Application Prayer: Write out a prayer for God’s insight and help into how you can apply the truth from the reading.


Week’s Memory Verse:  Jeremiah 8:7

7 Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.