SCRIPTURE
COMMENT
It sounds as if they are trying to put one over on God, that by proclaiming a repentance, but one that is not true, they can somehow fool God. But not only is God not fooled, but He has not forgotten their past. In some regards, it is almost as if even they believe their own lie. Or perhaps they just do not know God in a way that enables them to sincerely repent, and taking as many as possible along with them in their folly.
Vs. 10: The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him, for all this.
Vs. 13-14: Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me. They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.
God would restore them, if they had truly repented. This is a scary thought, because I believe it is possible to believe a lie, to deceive ourselves because of what we want to be true. I believe the Bible calls it having itching ears.
Some want to hold God to a standard that they have no business holding Him to. They say He does not fulfill His promises because the responses are not as they would have them to be. But one thing they do not take into account, that God knows the heart. He knows if the repentance is sincere, or if it is just to somehow regain God's favor. God never promised us heaven on earth, in fact, just the opposite. We are told that times of heartache and suffering would come. He tells us to pick up our cross. But that does not sell in today's Christian marketplace.
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