The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:My Understanding: There are some things that never change, one of which is human nature. So, although this was written at a specific time to a particular people, there are many Biblical principles here that are a theme throughout the whole of scripture and that describe God’s people, the church, even today.
“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the desert,
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, O house of Jacob,
all you clans of the house of Israel.
5 This is what the LORD says:
“What fault did your fathers 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 rifts,
a land of drought and 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 Kittim and look,
send to Kedar 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 Glory
for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, O 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.
When we first came to faith in Jesus Christ, for those of us who genuinely were converted to faith in our Lord Jesus, we were excited about our new relationship with Jesus Christ, as a young man or woman is excited about his first love, or as a new bride or groom is enthralled with his or her new spouse, and with the prospect of married life. We were devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ and desired to follow him and to serve and obey him. We loved our times of fellowship with the Lord in the reading of his word and in prayer and our times with his other children in fellowship and the hearing and the study of God’s word. We were passionate about witnessing and telling others about Jesus Christ and about our faith in him. And, we knew the saving grace, peace, joy, provisions and protection of our Lord.
Yet, over time, some of us may have drifted from that pure devotion to the Lord Jesus. The cares of this world, busyness with life’s activities, job responsibilities, laziness, apathy, self-fulfillment and self-desires began to take over and to rule our hearts. The temptations of this world, “idols” of men and of the things of this world began to take God’s place in our hearts. So, our pure devotion to God and our excitement for our Lord Jesus began to fade into the background. Our quiet times with God each day became shorter and shorter until they became non-existent. We would use the excuse that we don’t have time, and yet we had time for what we wanted and desired that pleased our flesh and our own selfish wills. As a result of all this, we forgot about our God. We forsook our Lord Jesus Christ, though not completely. We became lukewarm Christians whose passion and desires were more for the things of this world than they were for the things of God.
If any of us are still in this state of apathy, lukewarmness, neglect, rejection, and/or rebellion against God, because we are still following after our own idols of men or are following our own selfish desires over and above devotion to our Lord Jesus, then God is saying that he has two things against us:
• We have forsaken God, the spring of Living Water
• We have dug our own water sources that are broken and cannot hold water
In other words, we have rejected our One and Only true God, holy, maker of all things, who designed us, and provided salvation for us so that we could be free from sin (idolatry; selfish wills; adultery; etc.), and we replaced him and his Living Water with man or with man-made vessels that do not contain the Holy Spirit of God and that do not provide for us the spiritual things of God that are given to us for our strengthening, guidance, direction, peace, joy, etc. Men and man-made idols have faults, weaknesses and cracks in them and therefore are leaky and perishable and they cannot fill our hearts with the peace, joy, and freedom in Christ from sin that only Christ and his Living Water can offer us.
Throughout scripture, including in the New Testament, God promises or warns of judgment (divine discipline and correction) if we continue in our rebellion and we continue to stray from him and to follow after other gods and our own selfish desires. God says that our wickedness will punish us and that our backsliding will rebuke us. In other words, to some extent, our own sins will backfire on us and we will suffer natural consequences for our sins of rebellion against God because we will not have his protection, peace, joy and security. Yet, God also promises and warns of his divine correction, as well, if we do not repent.
He is asking us to consider and to realize how evil and bitter it is for us when we forsake our Lord God and we have no awe of him. We can sing with great gusto all the praise and worship songs we want, but if we are not walking in obedience to our Lord and we are following in our own rebellious ways, instead, then we have no awe and worship of God, because the kind of worship that God desires of us is that we give ourselves to him as living sacrifices, no longer conformed to the pattern of this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds. This is our good and acceptable worship and awe of God.
He is saying to those who are still walking in rebellion against him and who have refused to repent that they have broken off their relationship with Jesus Christ (their yoke and bonds) and have said to God, “I will not serve you.” I think that many of us who are there or who have been there may not say that consciously or even think that is where we are, but when we make choices, by our lifestyles, that choose “other gods” and our own selfish wills over and above the will of God for our lives, and we don’t listen to God’s voice and we don’t obey him, we are, in essence, telling God that we will not serve him.
He is also saying to us that, although we may have an outward appearance of spiritual cleanliness, the stain of our guilt is ever before God because he keeps calling to his church to repent and he keeps warning them not to follow after “other gods.” Yet, by their life choices they are, in essence, saying to God “It’s no use! I love my foreign gods and I must go after them” (v. 25). So, instead of turning her face to God to hear from him and to obey him, the church has turned her back to God and has chosen to go her own way instead. Yet, when she is in trouble, or when individual believers in this spiritual condition are in trouble, they call on God to save them. Oh, what a slap in the face to God it is when we choose to go our own way and then turn around and call on God when we need something, thinking he is our genie in a bottle there to serve us and to fulfill our wishes and desires and that we don’t have to pay him attention, we don’t have to repent of our sins and we don’t have to obey him. God is appalled at such hypocrisy.
Lastly, in this passage of scripture, God’s rebuke against his people is that they did not respond even to divine correction, and they still chose to follow their own ways. Yet, in spite of all that has been charged against them, they still claim to be innocent and to feel as though God is not angry with them. And, this is being taught today in our churches, that “faith” in Christ means that God is pleased with us no matter what we do and we are now innocent because of Jesus shed blood for us on the cross. It is true that we are cleansed and that we are saved and that we are reconciled with God because of Jesus blood sacrifice for us when we come to our Lord and we make him our Lord and Savior, yet many “believers” continue in their sin and have no feeling of guilt of further sin because they feel it is all covered and so it is ok. Many are teaching that repentance and obedience are not necessary for salvation, so, in essence, they are saying that they are innocent and that God is pleased with them so it doesn’t matter what they do, but it does, and God will judge us.
God is calling out to us, his church, to repent of our sins of idolatry and spiritual adultery, to return to our first love, to leave our lives of sin behind us, and to walk in faith and obedience to him and to his will for our lives. May we all walk humbly before him.
Awestruck Grief / An Original Work / April 21, 2011
When in awestruck grief o’er my sins, Lord, I bow,
Will You hear me, Lord, and forgive me just now?
I am so amazed that You could love me so.
Yet, Your love and kindness ever fill my soul.
Lord, You are amazing, and gracious and kind
To have offered Yourself for us when we’re blind.
You were crucified on that hill, Calvary,
When they hung Your body to die on a tree.
Now that You’ve redeemed us and, thus, set us free,
I pray, Lord, for all on this earth to believe
In Your sacrifice, Lord, cleansing all our sin,
So that we can live for You, and die within.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
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