When I go into a restaurant with my family, I always position myself where I can see the room and the nearest exit. I guess this is the protective nature in me as a man. When I go into a public place (especially with my family) I look over my surroundings and even consider various scenarios and what I would do to keep my family safe. I am always looking for a way of escape.

                Life will throw many challenges our way. There are many things along the way that can bring about our downfall. Temptations abound and the lure of this world is sometimes too strong to resist. Therefore, we must constantly look for a way of escape. God has a way of putting those escape plans in full view. There have been several times in my life when I was in a difficult situation and God cleared a path for my escape. Sometimes it was a phone call at just the right time. Sometimes it was another person that I could turn to. Sometimes it was a different option that stirred me away from trouble. Whatever the struggle, whatever the temptation; there is always a way out.

                Jeremiah continues to speak concerning the sins of Judah and of Israel. The Lord speaks through Jeremiah and reminds His people that He has an escape plan laid out for them. Here is the thing we must understand: there is always an opportunity for repentance and getting things right with God. It is in this context that we see six admonishments that will keep the way of escape clear.

                You may return to the Lord. One of the fundamental truths we learn from the book of Jeremiah is that no matter how far you may fall away from the Lord, you can always return. Like the father of the prodigal standing at the gate waiting on the wayward child to return; God is always there with arms wide open ready to welcome you back. The truth is: you can always come home. There is room at the table for you. However, returning to the Lord is conditional. There are two conditions given to God’s people in Jeremiah chapter four. (1) If you remove the idols. The biggest issue with God’s people throughout the Old Testament was the worship of idols. Idol worship was a common practice amongst the pagan nations surrounding them. Therefore, they were easily influenced and often fell astray. This is certainly not unlike the temptations that we face in our time. There are so many distractions in our world today. You don’t have to look for temptations and distractions. We live in a pagan society and if we are not careful we will find ourselves indulging in pagan practices just like God’s people did in Jeremiah’s day. The Lord told His people that the door was open for them to return to Him, if they removed the idols. They had to do more than just confess their sin; they needed to remove the sin and the opportunity for sin. They needed a house cleaning. Just as many of you, our family may have a certain season where we realize that we need to deep clean the house and work on projects that have been neglected. Every now and then it is good for us to do a spiritual deep cleaning. We need to clean the house of our hearts and remove all the clutter that hinders our walk with the Lord. It’s the sinful clutter in our lives that hinders our walk with God. Therefore, those idols, the clutter; must be removed so we may return to the Lord. (2) If you do not waver. God’s people in Jeremiah’s day tended to be all talk and no action. They would confess their sins without truly repenting. However, one of the requirements in returning to the Lord is that they would not waver in the removing of idols. They had to follow through. It needed to be more than just mere words. If you are struggling with sin. Just stop. Turn away from the sin. Don’t go back to it. If you really want to return to the Lord, you must have the discipline to remove the sin and not waver.

                Repentance brings God’s favor. The Lord tells His people that if they follow-through and remove the idols and return to Him; they will once again have His favor. Personally, I long for God’s favor. I long for God to pour out His favor upon my family and the church I pastor. I do not want anything in my life that could potentially remove God’s hand of favor. Therefore, I want to always be ‘confessed up.’ I want to continually live with an attitude of repentance. Every time I sin, I want to immediately get it right. I do not want anything coming between me and God. Sadly, there are times when we are stubborn and we refuse to repent. We do not like to admit when we are wrong or we try to convince ourselves that we are okay. The more stubborn we are and the more we refuse to repent; the further away we get from the Lord. If we want to be in right fellowship with God every day, we must repent every day. We must continuously turn from our wicked ways. Repentance is the key to revival. It is not an option. Yes, it may be uncomfortable. Yes, we may not like it. Yes, there are sins we do not want to give up. But, repent we must! I often remind our church that if we want God’s favor to be upon us, we must have our vertical relationship with God right and our horizontal relationship with others right. We can never expect God’s best for us if we are not right with God and with others. Therefore, repentance must be a regular practice in our lives. The only way to have God’s favor is to repent.

                Get out of the weeds. In God’s message to His people through the prophet Jeremiah, He says to “break up the fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.” In other words, ‘get out of the weeds.’ If we are going to escape the downward spiral of sin, we must get rid of the weeds and stay out of the weeds. Unfortunately, in our lives and in the church there can be many weeds. Things that choke the life out of us. Things that hinder God from working in and through us. These weeds could be something as simple as a bad attitude or a critical spirit. Weeds sprout up through seeds of discord planted by those tangled in the weeds themselves. To escape from the path that leads us away from God, we must cut through the weeds and return to Him. Weeds distract us. Weeds confuse us. Weeds hold us back and keep us from being all that God desires us to be. Therefore, we cannot allow ourselves to get tangled up in the weeds.

                Focus on what matters most. Another avenue of escape from temptation and sin is to focus on what matters most. Years ago I had the privilege of serving on staff with the late Pastor Bobby Edwards. Pastor Bobby was a tremendous leader and was well respected. He invested much in me and taught me a lot about leadership and being a pastor. One of the things Pastor Bobby would always remind me of is to stay focused. Pastor Bobby was always very calm. Nothing ever seemed to bother him. He had a tenacious focus. There are very few people that have such a disciplined focus. It is all too easy to get distracted and to lose focus. People and circumstances will often vie for our attention. Worldly pleasures can become all too alluring. To escape from potential downfalls, we must discipline ourselves to focus on the right things. We must stay focused on the Word of God through personal Bible study and prayer. We must stay focused on our mission by being actively involved in the work of bringing others to Christ. When we are in the Word and in prayer and busy serving the Lord, we will have no time to get tangled up in the weeds. It may be a good practice for us to make a list of all the things that are most important. Even post the list in prominent places. When we feel ourselves losing focus we can look at the list and regain our focus on the right things. To escape from temptation and things that distract us from God’s best for us, we must learn to focus on those things that lead us closer to God and invite His favor upon us.

                Consecrate yourself to the Lord. In verse four, the people are encouraged to ‘circumcise’ themselves to the Lord. Circumcision is a symbol of consecration. It is to dedicate or sanctify yourself to the Lord. To return to the Lord, one must rededicate themselves to the Lord. There are times in our lives when we need a fresh start. When we have gone astray or have gone through a difficult season; it is good for us to hit the reset button and start over. As we deal with our sin problem and we repent and turn back to God, we should then make a fresh commitment to the Lord. We all need revival from time to time. We need to be renewed and refreshed. These times often come when we have struggled in our walk with God and we need to return to Him. It is through repenting of sin and making a new commitment that we can then grow in greater ways.

                It is good to know that God always has a way for us to escape. When we are overwhelmed with temptation and the lures of this world; God is always there ready to receive us with open arms. To return to the Lord, we must remove those things in our lives that keep us from Him. We should also regain our focus on what matters most, getting out of the weeds that entangle us, and consecrate ourselves to the Lord afresh and new.