May 18, 2001
Has a nation ever changed its gods?
(Yet they are not gods at all.
But my people have exchanged their Glory
for worthless idols.
"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.
Jeremiah 2:11,13
God punished Israel for forsaking him and worshipping idols. These sins are so great to God that he allowed his people to be crushed and brought into captivity for a very long period of time. Much of the prophetic writings address these sins. In vs 11 you can almost here the confusion.. other nations don't exchange their God's, and they're not even real.. why would Israel let go of the one true God? Let go of Him who was a very obvious and real presence? The people felt God's protection and love throughout their history.. they weren't just stories handed down from generation to generation but each generation felt God's hand, presence and protection anew.. yet they chose to let go. When I look at how God felt back then it helps me understand even today why it's so important to God that I cling to him, that I trust him, that I learned to be surrendered and know he is in control. I have a tendency to look at my moments of not trusting God as not very serious but I think God sees it very differently.