Twice in these verses Jeremiah repeated God’s call to his wayward people: “Return.” God was
not calling them, and does not call us, to abstract ethics, rigid rules to obey “or else.” God called
them, and us, to a relationship, a decision to walk daily with God. If Israel would return to the
relationship, God said, he would provide the spiritual healing they needed.

• What differences do you see between calling people to “return to correct doctrine” or “return to good actions” and the call God in fact sent through Jeremiah: “return to me” (4:1)? To what extent has God become a personal presence in your life, rather than just an idea? What steps help open you to a more personal connection with God?
• Verses 23-25 record a kind of divine “wishful thinking,” the words God (and Jeremiah) wished Judah’s people would say. What things today are like the deceptive “idolatrous commotion on the hills” in Jeremiah’s time? When have you let something go in order to return to God? What did it take to show you that you needed to change course?