Jeremiah 3

In the social environment that we live in it is easy to be sucked up into the vacuum of loneliness and despair that living for your own desires bring. Our unfaithfulness to the Father and the shame it brings can cause us to distance ourselves from the only Hope we have. The Lord only wants us to acknowledge our sin, ask for forgiveness and return to Him. Satan uses our past to keep us separated from the One who knew us from the womb, knew all the sins we would commit and loved us still!
Fall on your knees and thank Him for His mercy and His grace!

3 "They say, 'If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him

And becomes another man's,

May he return to her again?'

Would not that land be greatly polluted?

But you have played the harlot with many lovers;

Yet return to Me," says the Lord.

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,

And there has been no latter rain.

You have had a harlot's forehead;

You refuse to be ashamed.

4 Will you not from this time cry to Me,

'My Father, You are the guide of my youth?

5 Will He remain angry forever?

Will He keep it to the end?'

Behold, you have spoken and done evil things,

As you were able."

6 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. 7 And I said, after she had done all these things, 'Return to Me.' But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense," says the Lord.

11 Then the Lord said to me, "Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:

'Return, backsliding Israel,' says the Lord;

'I will not cause My anger to fall on you.

For I am merciful,' says the Lord;

'I will not remain angry forever.

13 Only acknowledge your iniquity,

That you have transgressed against the Lord your God,

And have scattered your charms

To alien deities under every green tree,

And you have not obeyed My voice,' says the Lord.

14 "Return, O backsliding children," says the Lord; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

17 "At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they  follow the dictates of their evil hearts.

22 "Return, you backsliding children,

And I will heal your backslidings."

"Indeed we do come to You,

For You are the Lord our God.

23 Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills,

And from the multitude of mountains;

Truly, in the Lord our God

Is the salvation of Israel.

25 We lie down in our shame,

And our reproach covers us.

For we have sinned against the Lord our God,

We and our fathers,

From our youth even to this day,

And have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God."

The NKJV Study Bible says this: After forsaking God, Israel had taken many other lovers—that is, the nation worshiped many other gods. Yet the Lord in His mercy still extended His loving hand to His unfaithful bride. The word return implies repentance. Upon these barren heights Israel committed physical and spiritual adultery. Like Arabs who were known for ambushing caravans, Israel lustily sought other gods. Israel was like a prostitute who was totally unashamed. Israel's appeal based on God's friendship with them will avail them nothing due to their hardness of heart. Judah pretended to repent in times of distress, but did not actually turn with its heart to the Lord. The heart means the people's will, mind, and emotion. If the people turned in repentance God's anger would not come upon them. The basis of this appeal is that God is merciful, faithful to His covenant promise. Israel's rebellious iniquity is identified as the pursuit of alien gods, idolatry committed throughout the land. Throughout the Bible the image of the shepherd is an important one. God provides shepherds for His people to watch over them, guide them, care for them, and lead them. From Moses in the OT to Jesus in the New, God provides faithful, devoted leaders after His own heart. God rules with a heart of knowledge and understanding, not falsehood and deceit. God would bring back His people and bless them in the land of promise, under the Lord's chosen Shepherd—the Messiah. The Lord's desire has always been to bless His people. The confession begins with acknowledgment of the Lord as God in accordance with the First Commandment. True salvation or deliverance could be found only in the true God of Israel. The people acknowledged the shame and reproach that they had brought upon themselves. They had sinned against God since their days of youth in the wilderness.