Spent some time in Jeremiah chapter two this morning where God is basically telling us that what we are doing doesn’t make sense. We’re exchanging the Almighty God of the universe for a bargain-basement Barbie doll. Exchanging a diamond ring for a daisy chain, the original Gutenberg Bible for a scratch pad. Instead of fresh water from a sparkling fountain, we build cisterns in the sand.
Perhaps what surprised Jeremiah the most was not that his people had forsaken the Lord, but that they had no awe of Him. They took forgiveness for granted. He was always there to come home to.
Thus in Jeremiah’s mind, there was a downward progression and he saw the steps this way:
STEP ONE: Forsaking God, the spring of living water.
STEP TWO: Going after other gods; digging cisterns in the sand.
STEP THREE: Having lost an awe for God and His Justice.
STEP FOUR: Having lost any shame for sin.
STEP FIVE: Committing themselves to follow other gods.
Those downward steps are not unique to the Israelites nor to Jeremiah’s lifetime. The same steps are taken by most of us today. We may begin to forsake God by neglecting his Word, by being so busy with other things that we don’t spend time with Him in prayer and private devotion, by becoming careless in our attendance at services of worship and praise with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
It often starts, however, with our attitude toward the Book. Steve Brown once said about the Bible, this Book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this Book. Jeremiah knew that too. When we neglect God’s Word, when we stop drinking from the stream of living water, we start digging our own cisterns in the stand.
Today is the day to begin climbing back up the mountain. Pray for me. I’ll pray for you. Have an awesome Tuesday.
