What I’m thinking about today…Jeremiah 2
17 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in The Growth of Wisdom Tags: Almighty God, Christian, freedom, Jeremiah, living water
Started reading through Jeremiah today…wow….There is so much in Chapter 2 that strikes me that I had to not only stop to let it sink in, but also write about it here…
We are an arrogant, sinful people, as Judah was when Jeremiah prophesied destruction. Although even evolutionary scientists have moved away from Darwinian theory, and many of Freud’s theories are considered laughable, the so-called hard and soft sciences are still largely based on their faulty foundation—that there is no God…
“O my people, listen to the words of the Lord! Have I been like a desert to Israel? Have I been to them a land of darkness? Why then do My people say, ‘At last we are free from God! We won’t have anything to do with Him anymore!’” (v. 31, NLT).
We don’t want to be beholden to an Almighty, Holy God, but we all seek to worship, to base our lives on something.
“See if anyone has ever heard of anything as strange as this. Has any nation ever exchanged its gods for another god, even though its gods are nothing? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay, says the Lord. For my people have done two evil things: They have forsaken me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” (v. 10b-15, NLT).
We are always chasing after the next thing we hope will make us feel fulfilled. In our emptiness, we can do little more than consume. We don’t want to humble ourselves to find true fulfillment under His Lordship, yet we expect Him to bless us. We even go so far as to blame our troubles on Him when things don’t go the way that we want them to, the way we think will make us happy. There are even those who claim to preach in His name, but lead people to believe that to follow God is about getting what they want. We are so blessed, as a nation and individually, but so ungrateful.
“And when I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its bounty and goodness, you defiled my land and corrupted the inheritance I had promised you. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ The judges ignored me, the rulers turned against me, and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal, wasting their time on nonsense” (v. 7-8, NLT).
“Like a thief, Israel feels shame only when she gets caught. Kings, officials, priests, and prophets—all are alike in this…They turn their backs on Me, but in times of trouble they cry out for Me to save them!…Why do you accuse Me of doing wrong? You are the ones who have rebelled, says the Lord” (v. 23b-27, NLT).
We need to understand that we invite our own desolation and destruction. We misinterpret the meaning of a God Who is Love. We choose to ignore His holiness, and minimize His Love to sappy affection. He has told us what it takes to have the best life, and He has warned us what cannot be tolerated.
“Your own wickedness will punish you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to forsake the Lord your God, having no fear of Him. I the Lord, the Lord Almighty, have spoken! Long ago I broke your yoke and tore away the chains of your slavery, but still you would not obey Me. On every hill and under every green tree, you have prostituted yourselves by bowing down to idols” (v.19-20, NLT).
We can life in freedom, but we choose bondage.
