Growing up, I remember sometimes being so frustrated with my parents sometimes, because they weren't offering me exactly what I needed. They wouldn't read me a story because they were too tired, or they wouldn't drive through the puddles like I asked them to because they were afraid of hydroplaning, or they made cabbage and noodles for dinner when I wanted lasagna.
It sounds silly, I know. But that's truly how selfish I was growing up. I had this mentality that my parents existed only to take care of me. I didn't understand that there were other issues at stake beside my own individual preferences. I chose to forget how much they really loved me, and focus on what they were doing (or not doing) for me. Of course my parents love me - they love me unconditionally, and always have; but that never meant that they would always be at my personal beck and call.
So often it's so easy for Christians to look at God the same way that I looked at my parents. We see Him as some sort of nebulous Being in the air, one whom we can talk to when we need something, but have no obligation to communicate with otherwise. We have forgotten that God is a real live being. He has feelings and emotions, just like us, and He wants to spend time with us. He wants to have a relationship with us - a real relationship, a give-and-take relationship.
I can't help but notice the anguish, the raw pain in the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 2. He is talking to Israel, who has forsaken Him, and asking them to come back to Him. The language of that chapter invokes such powerful feelings in me. The Lord is clearly broken-hearted. He wants to commune with His people, but they will have none of it. When I imagine how broken-hearted my parents would be if I refused to associate with them, I get a small idea of how crushed the Lord must have been by the actions of the Israelites.
It's easy to ignore the Lord for long periods of time. It's easy to place Him at the bottom of the priority list, and let life get in the way of spending time with Him. Goodness knows I've done it myself more often than I care to count. But when you do that, remember that you are not ignoring some nebulous, faceless, emotion-less creature. You are ignoring a God who loves you infinitesimally, and who desperately wants to spend time with you and to know you personally. And if you don't even want to spend time with Him, if you don't even try to meet with Him every day, you have to ask yourself....do you even love Him at all??
“This is what the Lord says: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the Lord.
4 Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel. 5 This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. 6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ 7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. 8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. 9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. 10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar[a] and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: 11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord.
13 “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. 14 Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder? 15 Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted. 16 Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skull. 17 Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way? 18 Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile[b]? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates? 19 Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute. 21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine? 22 Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign Lord. 23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, 24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her. 25 Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
26 “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. 27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ 28 Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns. 29 “Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the Lord. 30 “In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion.
31 “You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’? 32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number. 33 How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways. 34 On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this 35 you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ 36 Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria. 37 You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the Lord has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.
It sounds silly, I know. But that's truly how selfish I was growing up. I had this mentality that my parents existed only to take care of me. I didn't understand that there were other issues at stake beside my own individual preferences. I chose to forget how much they really loved me, and focus on what they were doing (or not doing) for me. Of course my parents love me - they love me unconditionally, and always have; but that never meant that they would always be at my personal beck and call.
So often it's so easy for Christians to look at God the same way that I looked at my parents. We see Him as some sort of nebulous Being in the air, one whom we can talk to when we need something, but have no obligation to communicate with otherwise. We have forgotten that God is a real live being. He has feelings and emotions, just like us, and He wants to spend time with us. He wants to have a relationship with us - a real relationship, a give-and-take relationship.
I can't help but notice the anguish, the raw pain in the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 2. He is talking to Israel, who has forsaken Him, and asking them to come back to Him. The language of that chapter invokes such powerful feelings in me. The Lord is clearly broken-hearted. He wants to commune with His people, but they will have none of it. When I imagine how broken-hearted my parents would be if I refused to associate with them, I get a small idea of how crushed the Lord must have been by the actions of the Israelites.
It's easy to ignore the Lord for long periods of time. It's easy to place Him at the bottom of the priority list, and let life get in the way of spending time with Him. Goodness knows I've done it myself more often than I care to count. But when you do that, remember that you are not ignoring some nebulous, faceless, emotion-less creature. You are ignoring a God who loves you infinitesimally, and who desperately wants to spend time with you and to know you personally. And if you don't even want to spend time with Him, if you don't even try to meet with Him every day, you have to ask yourself....do you even love Him at all??
Jeremiah 2
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:“This is what the Lord says: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the Lord.
4 Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel. 5 This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. 6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ 7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. 8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. 9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. 10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar[a] and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: 11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord.
13 “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. 14 Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder? 15 Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted. 16 Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skull. 17 Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way? 18 Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile[b]? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates? 19 Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute. 21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine? 22 Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign Lord. 23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, 24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her. 25 Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
26 “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. 27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ 28 Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns. 29 “Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the Lord. 30 “In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion.
31 “You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’? 32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number. 33 How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways. 34 On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this 35 you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ 36 Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria. 37 You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the Lord has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.
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