Jeremiah and backsliding

Jeremiah 3:14 Return, O faithless sons,’ declares Yahweh;
‘For I am a master to you,
And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,
And I will bring you to Zion.’

15 “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will [m]shepherd you on knowledge and understanding.

Translation LSB, got to be trendy in reformed circles 😏🤭
But wow this verse really stood to me a few days ago during my daily morning Bible reading, we ofcourse must be very careful when applying verses personally in our circumstances, but it is ok as long as we go for the orthodox meaning, not the 'this is what it means to me' meaning.

Verse 14- was open to me during the whole long time I backslid- mixing with the wrong sorts of people and getting into trouble and physical altercations, lads holidays, that time I got in with a driver high on cocaine (that went as well as you expected car door wouldn't open and smoke everywhere), AI image of it below.

During backsliding you may feel you are having a great time participating in the activities the world does- fighting, scoring, etc but nothing of this compares to living right with God. You will look back on those days and realise they were actually as sad as a funeral, the book of Ecclesiastes will make 1000% sense.

If you are backsliding and not living in accordance with God's will it's not too late for you, a life in obedience to him is eternally satisfying to the soul, posts on here that basically say "You go ahead take Christ as Saviour, but don't worry, don't take him as Lord, that's legalism! Don't you worry, I don't want you uncomfortable put your feet up, don't join a Bible believing church and don't worry about the sacraments, these are in the same category as being a good citizen"- these posts directly violate God's word and will make you comfortable in your backsliding.

Verse 15- There I was in a morning in October 2023, the wife had to go for a week and weekend away for her family's business, I still needed some shaping in my faith, bizarrely the church I chose to go to when the car wasn't available was an awful local progressive Anglican church.

On that week on October 2023 with my wife away and myself coming home from work I walked past a local Baptist church, I got home and read it's statement of faith- that Sunday I'd give it a try.

On that Sunday I got up, headed to Wetherspoons to treat myself to a coffee and full English, and well, now my wife and I are full blown members, we got the promise of verse 15- our pastor who is the most passionate and dedicated pastor I know.