Jeremiah 4:1

Jeremiah 4:1 says, If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.  God called on the people of Israel to return to Him and to put away their abominations.  If we allow the things of this world, the abominations to God, to come between Him and us, the first we must do is repent and return to God.  We cannot return to God and still allow the things of this world to come between Him and us.  We have to choose one or the other.  Verse two adds, And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.  God told the people of Israel that when they returned to Him, then they had to swear that God lived in truth, judgment, and righteousness and that if a nation was to be blessed that it was through God.  We need to swear our allegiance to God and tell the world about Him.  We can never hope to be successful spiritually if we do not.  Verse three declares, For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.  God was not speaking about physically sowing, but was telling them to once again break up their spiritual fallow ground, since it had laid dormant for too long.  If we have been out of communion with God, we are spiritually fallow, since our relationship with God remains dormant.  Verse four adds, Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.  Circumcision was a physical act that identified the people of Israel as God's people, and they were still going through the motions, but God called them to circumcise their hearts, which would be a spiritual action.  We may go through the motions of worshipping God, but until we make our heart right with Him, it is of no value.  Verse five continues, Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.  God told the people of Israel to assemble together and declare His name in the defensed cities.  They were to be ready for war under God's leadership, just as we must in the world today.  Verse six states, Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.  God then warned His people to be ready for the coming war.  If we turn away from God, we should not be surprised if He allows us to be defeated by the world.  Verse seven adds, The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.  God told the people of Israel that the nation that overpowered the Gentiles around them was going to destroy them as well.  If we follow Christ in name only and do not allow the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us, we should not feel superior to the lost people of the world.  Of course, we should never feel that way at anytime, since we are but sinners saved by grace,  Verse eight says, For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.  God called the people of Israel to a sincere repentance, and so must we sincerely repent if we having fallen away from God.  Verse nine adds,  And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.  God warned His people that they would be astonished at the coming destruction, and we today as followers of Christ know that one day He is going to return, and the world will be astonished at the destruction that will come.