"Is not Ephraim still my son, my darling child?"

"Is not Ephraim still my son, my darling child?"  (from Winslow's, "The Burden Cast upon God")  Perhaps a sense of backsliding from the Lord is your burden. You used to run well, walked closely with God, and loved to feed in green pastures with the flock and beside the Shepherd's tent. But you did not love the fold, and went away and walked no more with Jesus. And now the Shepherd has gone after you, and by the gentle moving of His Spirit on your heart is drawing you back with weeping, and mourning, and confession. Your departures are a grievous and a heavy burden, and like Ephraim you smite upon the thigh, and are ashamed, you are even confounded, and exclaim, "Turn me and I shall be turned, for You are the Lord my God." Come, then, poor backslider, you wanderer from the Shepherd's side, you truant from the fold, and listen to the tender, forgiving language of that God and Father against whom you have sinned. "Is not Ephraim still my son, my darling child?"  asks the Lord. "I had to punish him, but I still love him. I long for him and surely will have mercy on him." (Jeremiah 31:20) Approach, you penitent soul, though a wanderer, still a son; though a backslider, still a child; and cast the burden of your backslidings upon Jesus, whose unchanging love and restoring grace are now gently and effectually drawing you back to Himself. "I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before You."