A slight change of direction, or a total return? - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

They return, but not to the Most High.
Hosea 7:16.

A slight change of direction, or a total return?
In the course of a lifetime many people are forced to make a correction in the course they have taken, because they notice that things cannot continue on the pathway they are following.

Businessmen who have spent their working life making a success of their career retire early in order to enjoy life at last.

People who have been leading an unhealthy way of life pay more attention to the food they eat and undertake physical activity to promote their health.

Persons who have never entertained thoughts about God suddenly become interested in religion and adhere to one that suits them best.

What God thinks of such people can be found in today's verse from the Bible, which can also be translated: "They return, but not upward." The correction they make in their manner of living is not a return to their Creator. For this reason nothing changes principally in their orientation. They are still on the road that leads to disaster.

God orders all to return to Him, so that He can keep them from judgment and grant them eternal life. By means of the Bible He tells them:

"Look to me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:22).

"I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die? (Ezekiel 33:11).

Today's reading: Ezra 5:6-17 · Proverbs 6:1-11