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too, without any cause! He says, “What iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me?” Is not God the same today as when you came to Him first? Has God changed? Men are apt to think that God has changed; but the fault is with them. Backslider, I would ask you, “What iniquity is there in God, that you have left Him and gone far from Him?” You have, He says, hewed out to yourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. The world cannot satisfy the new nature. No earthly well can satisfy the soul that has become a partaker of the heavenly nature. Honor, wealth and the pleasures of this world will not satisfy those who, having tasted the water of life, have gone astray, seeking refreshment at the world’s fountains. Earthly wells will get dry. They cannot quench spiritual thirst.

Again in the 32nd verse: “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number.” That is the charge which God brings against the backslider. They “have forgotten Me, days without number.”

I have often startled young ladies when I have said to them, “My friend, you think more of your earrings than of the Lord.” The reply has been, “No, I do not.” But when I have asked, “Would you not be troubled if you lost one; and would you not set about seeking for it?” the answer has been, “Well, yes, I think I should.” But though they had turned from the Lord, it did not give them any trouble; nor did they seek after Him that they might find Him.

How many once in fellowship and in daily communion with the Lord now think more of their dresses and ornaments than of their precious souls! Love does not like to be forgotten. Mothers would have broken hearts if their children left them and never wrote a word or sent any memento of their affection; and God pleads over backsliders as a parent over loved ones who have gone astray. He tries to woo them back. He asks: “What have I done that you should have forsaken Me?”