Who we trust reflects what we do.  Who we respect, admire, and adore; we imitate.  Who we think the most in our minds is the one we learn more and more about.  We can’t get enough information about this person.  We want to know all the details of how life works in that person’s life.  We read or watch news articles, looking for all the juicy entail of that person’s life. 

Some of us read incessantly about a highly promoted, talented, athlete.  Some of us follow all the tabloids telling us of royalty, scanning the news for what they said or did.  Some of us follow highly acclaimed leaders who seem to know it all when it comes to acquiring wealth and building successful businesses.  And some of us wake each morning, greet God first with thanksgiving, get a cup of coffee and dive into what God has to say to us through His Word. 

Who do you trust?  Who do you imitate?  Who do you spend the most time getting to know?

Jeremiah 2, The Message

Israel Was God’s Holy Choice

2 ^1-3 God’s Message came to me. It went like this:

“Get out in the streets and call to Jerusalem,
    ‘God’s Message!
I remember your youthful loyalty,
    our love as newlyweds.
You stayed with me through the wilderness years,
    stuck with me through all the hard places.
Israel was God’s holy choice,
    the pick of the crop.
Anyone who laid a hand on her
    would soon wish he hadn’t!’”
        God’s Decree.

* * *

^4-6 Hear God’s Message, House of Jacob!
    Yes, you—House of Israel!
God’s Message: “What did your ancestors find fault with in me
    that they drifted so far from me,
Took up with Sir Windbag
    and turned into windbags themselves?
It never occurred to them to say, ‘Where’s God,
    the God who got us out of Egypt,
Who took care of us through thick and thin, those rough-and-tumble
    wilderness years of parched deserts and death valleys,
A land that no one who enters comes out of,
    a cruel, inhospitable land?’

^7-8 “I brought you to a garden land
    where you could eat lush fruit.
But you barged in and polluted my land,
    trashed and defiled my dear land.
The priests never thought to ask, ‘Where’s God?’
    The religion experts knew nothing of me.
The rulers defied me.
    The prophets preached god Baal
And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.

^9-11 “Because of all this, I’m bringing charges against you”
        —God’s Decree—
    “charging you and your children and your grandchildren.
Look around. Have you ever seen anything quite like this?
    Sail to the western islands and look.
Travel to the Kedar wilderness and look.
    Look closely. Has this ever happened before,
That a nation has traded in its gods
    for gods that aren’t even close to gods?
But my people have traded my Glory
    for empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.

^12-13 “Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see!
    Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can’t be!”
        God’s Decree.
“My people have committed a compound sin:
    they’ve walked out on me, the fountain
Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—
    cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.

^14-17 “Isn’t Israel a valued servant,
    born into a family with place and position?
So how did she end up a piece of meat
    fought over by snarling and roaring lions?
There’s nothing left of her but a few old bones,
    her towns trashed and deserted.
Egyptians from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes
    have broken your skulls.
And why do you think all this has happened?
    Isn’t it because you walked out on your God
    just as he was beginning to lead you in the right way?

^18-19 “And now, what do you think you’ll get by going off to Egypt?
    Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water?
Or what do you think you’ll get by going off to Assyria?
    Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water?
Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that’s what you’ll get.
    You’ll pay dearly for your disloyal ways.
Take a long, hard look at what you’ve done and its bitter results.
    Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?”
        God’s Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

Addicted to Alien Gods

^20-22 “A long time ago you broke out of the harness.
    You shook off all restraints.
You said, ‘I will not serve!’
    and off you went,
Visiting every sex-and-religion shrine on the way,
    like a common whore.
You were a select vine when I planted you
    from completely reliable stock.
And look how you’ve turned out—
    a tangle of rancid growth, a poor excuse for a vine.
Scrub, using the strongest soaps.
    Scour your skin raw.
The sin-grease won’t come out. I can’t stand to even look at you!”
    God’s Decree, the Master’s Decree.

^23-24 “How dare you tell me, ‘I’m not stained by sin.
    I’ve never chased after the Baal sex gods’!
Well, look at the tracks you’ve left behind in the valley.
    How do you account for what is written in the desert dust—
Tracks of a camel in heat, running this way and that,
    tracks of a wild donkey in rut,
Sniffing the wind for the slightest scent of sex.
    Who could possibly corral her!
On the hunt for sex, sex, and more sex—
    insatiable, indiscriminate, promiscuous.

²⁵ “Slow down. Take a deep breath. What’s the hurry?
    Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway?
But you say, ‘I can’t help it.
    I’m addicted to alien gods. I can’t quit.’

* * *

^26-28 “Just as a thief is chagrined, but only when caught,
    so the people of Israel are chagrined,
Caught along with their kings and princes,
    their priests and prophets.
They walk up to a tree and say, ‘My father!’
    They pick up a stone and say, ‘My mother! You bore me!’
All I ever see of them is their backsides.
    They never look me in the face.
But when things go badly, they don’t hesitate to come running,
    calling out, ‘Get a move on! Save us!’
Why not go to your handcrafted gods you’re so fond of?
    Rouse them. Let them save you from your bad times.
You’ve got more gods, Judah,
    than you know what to do with.

Trying Out Another Sin-Project

^29-30 “What do you have against me,
    running off to assert your ‘independence’?”
        God’s Decree.
“I’ve wasted my time trying to train your children.
    They’ve paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline.
And you’ve gotten rid of your God-messengers,
    treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.

^31-32 “What a generation you turned out to be!
    Didn’t I tell you? Didn’t I warn you?
Have I let you down, Israel?
    Am I nothing but a dead-end street?
Why do my people say, ‘Good riddance!
    From now on we’re on our own’?
Young women don’t forget their jewelry, do they?
    Brides don’t show up without their veils, do they?
But my people forget me.
    Day after day after day they never give me a thought.

* * *

^33-35 “What an impressive start you made
    to get the most out of life.
You founded schools of sin,
    taught graduate courses in evil!
And now you’re sending out graduates, resplendent in cap and gown—
    except the gowns are stained with the blood of your victims!
All that blood convicts you.
    You cut and hurt a lot of people to get where you are.
And yet you have the nerve to say, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.
    God doesn’t mind. He hasn’t punished me, has he?’
Don’t look now, but judgment’s on the way,
    aimed at you who say, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

^36-37 “You think it’s just a small thing, don’t you,
    to try out another sin-project when the first one fails?
But Egypt will leave you in the lurch
    the same way that Assyria did.
You’re going to walk away from there
    wringing your hands.
I, God, have blacklisted those you trusted.
    You’ll get not a lick of help from them.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God redeemed the Israelites from Egypt and gave them freedom in Canaan, but now their nation had gone back into bondage because of its idolatry. By allying with its pagan neighbors—Egypt and Assyria—instead of trusting the Lord, Judah had become a vassal state and was being plundered and enslaved. Instead of drinking at the pure river that the Lord had given them, the people of Judah were drinking the polluted waters of the Nile and the Euphrates.

Who do you trust? 

Who or what are our idols?

Who or what is polluting our minds and affecting our spiritual health?

Are we living and getting the most out of life?

In trying to keep peace with its neighbors, Judah had flitted between Egypt and Assyria, both of whom would ultimately disappoint. Verse 37 describes prisoners of war, their hands tied above their heads, being led away captive. Any decisions we make that are contrary to God’s plan will lead to bondage, because only the truth can set us free (John 8:32).

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” –Jesus

Lord,

Help us all to see the pollution that can seep into our wellsprings of life with you.  May our lives be all about you, following you, learning more about you, being impressed and obsessed with knowing you more so we can imitate you.  You, dear Jesus, is Life to the full.  You are Truth.  You are the Only Way to real life.  Yes, dear Jesus, I trust in You.

In Your Name for Your glory, Amen