Lessons from the Book of Jeremiah (3)

“HE ALWAYS SHOWS YOU WHAT YOU DID WRONG”

“Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful’, declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt- you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me’, declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah 3:12b-13 (NIV)

WHAT IS SIN?

Man call is an accident, God calls it abomination.

Man calls it a defect, God calls it a disease.

Man calls it an error, God calls it an enmity.

Man calls it a liberty, God calls it lawlessness.

Man calls it a trifle, God calls it a tragedy.

Man calls it a mistake, God calls it a madness.

Man calls it a weakness, God calls it willfulness.

~Moody Monthly.

 Have you ever wondered, “What have I done wrong?!?!” I know that I have on several occasions cried out this very thought in frustration.  Feeling like my world was crashing all around and then praying to God, “What did I ever do wrong?”

The prophet Jeremiah had a message from God for the people. They had been straying from serving Him as the one true God. But God didn’t leave the people in limbo just in case they didn’t know why He wanted them to repent. He gave them the details:

[The New Living Translation (NLT) ]

1.  Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God

2. (Admit that you) committed adultery against Him
      by worshiping idols under every green tree.

3. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.

God wanted the people to acknowledge their sins and He was not going to “be angry forever” (v.12b). The next you feel like you’ve done something wrong…maybe you have. Ask God to show you and know that He won’t hold you responsible to repent (ask forgiveness and change your mind toward that sin) without showing what it was so that you can admit it, confess it and move on from it. His anger won’t be forever, remember, “…neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39

Lessons from Jeremiah (2)

“Two Sins”

“My people have committed two sins. They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cistern, broken that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13

The people of Israel were in a terrible situation. God was trying to get them to realize the gravity of their sins. All the sins that they had committed could be boiled down to just two: They forsook God and tried to do it their own way.

“Forsake” is defined as “to give up or leave entirely”, the synonym is the word “abandon”. The people of Israel had abandoned their God. They didn’t even understand all that they had given up. God compared their forsaking as someone who left a river with flowing water and then dug their own cisterns. By definition a “cistern” is an “artificial reservoir or tank for storing water usually underground”.

The people had given up the natural flow of a river and focused on the artificial reservoir. It gave them a false sense of security that they were able to rely on their own supply rather than on God’s provision.

We need to be careful that we don’t the same thing and sin against God by first forsaking Him and then devising our own plans, relying on our human strength. God is patient and loving but there are things He will not tolerate and these are two of them.

Ask the Lord to show you the cisterns you have dug in your own strength. Then ask for forgiveness and cover those human made cisterns and begin rely on God.

lLessons from the Book of Jeremiah (1)

WHO ARE YOU DEVOTED TO?”

“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.” Jeremiah 2:2b

 It’s been almost eight years since I married my husband. I remember that when we were first married everything he did was cute and if he told me the sky was purple I would believe him because my love for him was young and inexperienced. I love my husband tremendously but just as every young couple realizes, the honeymoon is just a season. Eventually the trials of life begin to sneak in and it brings along hurt, anger, distrust.

                The word “devotion” is defined as “a strong love, affection, or dedication.” I can honestly say that I am a devoted wife. I have dedicated my life to being “Mrs. Rivera” God gave us marriage as a symbol of our relationship with Him.

                If I can be devoted to my husband how much more should I be devoted to God? This very same situation was the kind that the Israelites were finding themselves in. God had already taken them through the desert hundred of years prior to Jeremiah and God had provided for them, defended them and protect them all those years. Now the people had begun making it a habit to serve God’s other than Him. And God wanted them to remember His goodness. The love that the people of Israel had for God led them out of Israel had for God led them out of Israel had for God led them out of slavery and thru desert, a place where crops thru a desert, a place where crops don’t grow and they had to rely totally on God that was devotion. Their passion for God then was strong. God is still the same. He never changes.

                How about in your life? Was your previous devotion to God like the people in Israel? Were you like a new bride, so excited but the trials of life caused you to feel differently? You are only one prayer away from devoting yourself to God again.