epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Friday, December 21, 2007

Jeremiah 2

God has a message for Jerusalem, but will His people hear Him? Who can solve the problem of people who stop up their ears to their own destruction?

The Lord reminds His people of a better day. As we read in the Scriptures of the life of Israel during the forty years in the wilderness it does not appear to be a high point of holiness. Yet God remembers it as the glory days of Israel’s youth by the time of Jeremiah. Back in that day, though Israel rebelled, they had no choice ultimately but to literally follow God or to perish in the desert. During that time God defended them against their enemies. While we can call to mind many episodes of faithlessness, and we know that an entire generation was lost in that wilderness and was not permitted to enter the promise land, yet by the time of Jeremiah the trouble of the Lord’s people is far more severe. They seem utterly insensible to the Lord’s correction.

God inquires here in Jeremiah 2 as to any supposed fault that they may have found in Him that would lead them to reject Him. Of course there is no such fault in the Lord. Nonetheless His people have abandoned the One of Worth and have set their hearts on worthlessness.

Though the Lord had in fact corrected His people on many occasions, and though during the time of the judges, the people had responded in part to the discipline of the Lord, we can say that even back in that day, any godly response among the Lord’s flock becomes less and less significant with each passing generation. Eventually, they do not seem to be responding at all. When they face trouble they may forget to sincerely inquire, “Where is the Lord?” The people defile the land, and yet even the leaders do not appear to be faithful to the Word of God. There are so few calling the nation back to spiritual fidelity.

This is so very dangerous. It is never wise to contend with Almighty God. It is all so unusual. Even nations with very unsatisfactory man-made religions do not readily abandon their religion, and yet the people of God at times seem to prefer the gods that their hands have made to the God who is able to save them, and who is waiting for them to sincerely repent and call upon His name. Instead they commit themselves to these two evils: 1) They forsake the real God who is a fountain of living water, 2) They make broken wells of spiritual water instead, that is they cling to useless idols.

This all is so shocking and so very sad, but what can possibly be done about it? Judah runs to Egypt and Assyria for help, but they will not run to the God who made them. They kill and commit adultery. They abuse the poor for their own gain. They turn to a tree or a stone and say, “You are my Father,” and then turn away from your real heavenly Father as an unwelcome stranger. Will further correction actually help in such a situation? There is noting left but to give them over to the nations whose gods they have so frequently admired.

This spiritual heartbreak is not just an Old Covenant nightmare. Even today the church can become insensible to the discipline of God. Many turn away from the Christ in whom they were nurtured, and decide that everything else would be better, no matter how foolish. The ethical categories that were the delight of the Savior’s heart are cast off quickly with no viable replacement in sight. So many within the church become so completely conformed to the pattern of this world, and yet they say with the Old Covenant rebels, “I am innocent.”

What can be done in such a sad situation? The Lord knows how to keep His own. This we need to remember when everything seems lost. God raises up the faithful from the most pitiful and unspiritual situations when His own covenant children determine to spurn Him. He will not be mocked, and His will shall not be frustrated in the end. If we turn away from Jesus Christ, deliverance and kingdom usefulness will arise for the elect from some other place but many foolish people will perish. Yet perhaps we have come to the kingdom to rise up with the faithful for such a time as this. The Lord may yet have mercy upon us. Our true Father knows who He is, and He knows us, and He is able to save us from the blindness of idolatry.

Do not turn away from the one true God who has saved us through His Son. Do not make up your own salvation from the false spiritual answers all around us. Remember the Lord who remembers you, and follow Him.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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