My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
In the second chapter of Jeremiah, God confronts Israel for forsaking him in favor of false gods. In verse five, God says:
What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
It is clear that even though the people's relationship with God brought them so much benefit, they turned to false gods.
Do you find it strange that it appears their turning away from the God who loved them and cared for them seems to have come about for no apparent reason? One might assume that their unfaithfulness must have been due to a catastrophe of some kind. But that doesn't seem to be what is going on here. The first verse I quoted above (2:13) tells us that they rejected what was of significant benefit for something else that was, in fact, useless. They just did it.
Why did they do that? I don't know. I also don't know why we do the same thing. I think that most often this happens over a period of time. And when we do, we may not even be aware of it. And then when confronted, we quickly deny it (2:23).
It is easier than we think to get caught up in the culture in which we live. Unless we allow ourselves to come under the regular scrutiny of God's Word (and make the necessary adjustments), we will become molded by the society around us (see Romans 12:2).
2 comments:
So true! Thanks for sharing these insights!
I've been reading Peter's epistles, and he constantly stresses the need to "be in remembrance." We seem prone to amnesia unless we constantly stir ourselves up.
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