The Heartbreak of God - Jeremiah 2

 

 

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla, 

Chapter 2 of Jeremiah is sad but also beautiful because we truly have an opportunity here to see right into the heart of God.  Here He expresses to us the resulting emotions that occur in His heart when we reject and ignore Him.  We see how He relates to us as a Father relates to His children and are comforted by His mercy, patience and compassion.

Jeremiah starts off this chapter with the Lord speaking through Him to His people remembering what it was like when they first loved Him.  We do this in our own relationships, don't we?  We look back and remember how they were in the beginning...for better or for worse.  Jeremiah paints pictures that all of us can understand not just with our minds but with our hearts as well. He then goes on to ask them for what reasons have they now gone far from Him. He points out that they do not even ask for Him, the One who had done so much for them. Can you feel His pain and hurt?   He recounts to them two evils...the first is that they have forsaken Him--the fountain of living waters and chosen other gods that do not satisfy...something that even the heathen nations had not done to their own man made idols! God's people, however, had forsaken the One who had been so faithful...who had loved them,  fed them, cared for them, raised them and protected them! Wow!  The fountain of living water is spoken of in the New Testament also. Nothing satisfies like our Lord and His word. It is the only thing that will quench that thirst inside of us. Augustine once said that our hearts are truly restless until we find rest in Him. Amen!

Next, we learn that they did not seek God but looked for help elsewhere and as a result in verse 19 God tells them their own backsliding would correct them.  They would reap what they had sown. God was grieved that they were rejecting Him because He knew what was headed their way. Girls...can you hear and feel the heartbreak of God? Can you feel His concern and care for His people and His desire to protect them from their own evil hearts? BUT THEY DID NOT LISTEN! Pray that each one of us would have ears to hear and the humility to turn.

Isaiah 50:4-5  “ The Lord GOD has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned. 5 The Lord GOD has opened My ear;  And I was not rebellious,  Nor did I turn away. 

The next two verses (20-22) inform us that the people may have been saying the right things but their actions said otherwise.  Their hearts were far from Him.  The heart is always what God looks at. It is always the issue. The people's hearts were stubborn...they did not want to listen or obey what God had said.  No amount of soap or religious ritual could change what God saw in their hearts. The law kills but the Spirit gives life. We can examine our own lives and hearts this way by checking to see if our own words and deeds match.  

Verse 25 girls is perhaps the verse in this chapter that grieves me the most.  Condemnation comes from Satan...He tells us that we have gone too far...that there is no way back...that there is no hope...But God says Return...I can make the crooked places straight.  I can heal your back sliding. Behold, I make all things new. Just return he says...come to Him...He will heal. 

On second thought maybe this is the saddest verse..."Yet my people have forgotten Me days without number."  You can almost hear God's heart of love for His people and His heartbreak upon being ignored. He had tried every way He knew how to get their attention without forcing Himself on them including disciplining them in their sin. He wondered what He might have done wrong to have His people treat Him this way.  This one reminds me of the one in Matthew 23:37"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 

The final two verses of Chapter 2 tell us what is the result of trusting in anything other than God and His word.  Bondage. Jeremiah pictures the people here being led away as captives. James 1:14 says "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death."  The words drawn away and enticed have the meaning of a trap or the baiting of a hook.  Sin deceives and takes captive.  In contrast, knowing and doing the truth sets us free. (John 8:31,34) Christ sets us free. 

As we reach the end of the chapter there is one thing that truly amazes me.  If I am rejected, I am hurt...devastated if it comes from someone I have loved and cared for.  BUT I CAN STILL UNDERSTAND THE REJECTION. I am human and as a human am a sinner deserving of wrath. But us puny humans rejecting God...the One who died for us and lives to intercede for us?  That IS hard to fathom.  It happens, though, all the time.  As Jeremiah says they forsake the fountain of living waters and hew for themselves cisterns that cannot hold water.  After doing a little reading here I learned that the people would carve cisterns into the sides of hills to catch the run off.  When a cistern was cracked and could not hold water it was only good for one thing....to be used as a grave. What Jeremiah then is saying here is that whatever gods we go after will eventually bury us.  I like that picture.  Even as Christians we are often in danger of allowing other things to come before God in our lives.  When we do He chastens us to bring us back into a right relationship with Him. God's people here ignored His chastening and eventually found themselves facing judgment without remedy. Proverbs 29:1 speaks to this: "He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Make no mistake our God  is a jealous God and wants us wholly devoted to Him.  I like that too...makes any decision I make easy...God first...anything else next. 

As followers of Jesus, girls, each one of you will be ignored or rejected at some time or another in your lives.  A servant is not greater than His master. John 15:20 also says this well....if they persecuted Me they will persecute you also. Are there any benefits to being rejected?  I can think of two or three straight away.  The first is in rejection we look up and see God's faithfulness. We truly learn during the times in our lives that we are lonely and rejected and perhaps even despised that God is faithful and He truly never leaves us nor forsakes us. I think rejection also obviously conforms us into the image of His Son.  All you need do is read through the Gospels and the Servant songs in Isaiah to know that Jesus was not only rejected by His own creatures but He was also despised.  He was a Man of Sorrows.  My mantra for the past 10 years has been to owe no one anything but to love. (Romans 13:8) Through rejection you learn to love without expecting anything in return.  To accept offenses as He did and still reach out in love.

I will end here with something that Jon Courson said that I liked very much.  "Accept the rejection from people in your life.  More importantly, avoid rejecting God from your life. If some time has gone by since you have talked with Him or walked with Him, today is the day to return. He is ready to receive. Abide in Him...draw near....

Love

Mom

Now Set Your Heart and Your Soul to Seek the LORD Your God…

 

17 David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, 18 ”Is not the LORD your God with you? And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the LORD and before His people. 19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the LORD.”—1 Chronicles 22:17-19

Look at all the Lord has done for us, David says to the leaders of Israel.  Is He not with us?  Has He not given us rest on every side?  Has He not subdued the land and given its inhabitants into my hand?  Therefore, set your heart and soul to seek Him. Arise! Assist Solomon in this task! Build the sanctuary of the Lord and place within it the holy ark which symbolized the presence of God.

Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God.—1 Chronicles 22:19a

I don’t know about you but I would love to have this reminder so indelibly written on my heart that it would be always before my eyes. I need plaques, index cards, and magnets for my refrigerator with this verse printed on them in very big letters.  

Beloved…The Lord has done great things for us and we are glad!  We are as believers His dwelling place. The Presence of God lives within us!  Therefore, live for His glory!

1 Arise, shine;

For your light has come!

And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.

2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,

And deep darkness the people;

But the LORD will arise over you,

And His glory will be seen upon you.—Isaiah 60:1-2

Oh Father! Give us steadfast, single-minded hearts that seek You continually. May we place our happiness in Your favor and our eye upon Your glory. May we seek You as our chief good and highest end and this with everything we have.  So engage our heart in doing Your will that our head and hand and each one of our interests are cheerfully employed for Your purposes.  

18 “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.—Deuteronomy 11:18-21

4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.—1 Peter 2:4-5

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.—2Corinthians 4:7-12

Cross-reference Verses

11 Seek the LORD and His strength;

Seek His face evermore!

12 Remember His marvelous works which He has done,

His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,—1 Chronicles 16:11-12

9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.—1 Chronicles 28:9

29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice 31 (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.—Deuteronomy 4:29-31

46 and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”—Deuteronomy 32:46-47

4 One thing I have desired of the LORD,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD,

And to inquire in His temple.—Psalm 27:4

3 Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 

4 ”Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” 5 Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways!

6 “You have sown much, and bring in little;

You eat, but do not have enough;

You drink, but you are not filled with drink;

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;

And he who earns wages,

Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

7 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the LORD. 9 ”You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11 For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”—Haggai 1:3-11 

23 When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.—Acts 11:23

On Losing Perspective…

 

O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself;

It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.—Jeremiah 10:23

This morning as I read this verse my eyes filled with tears of gratitude and understanding. I didn’t sleep well last night. My day today is very full and won’t end until late this evening. Jeremiah’s words were a good reminder to this child of God who, in the midst of sleep deprivation, had also lost her perspective. 

With or without sleep…in weakness or in strength…I am not capable of guiding my own life adequately.  Without the Lord and His word to guide me, I walk blindly. Psalm 119:105 says this:

Your word is a lamp to my feet

And a light to my path.

I need the lamp of the Lord to guide my feet and illuminate my path.  This morning then, I am thankful for my lack of sleep because it brought me to Him…to a place of dependence but also of blessing, because only those who allow God direct their ways will be truly blessed…

Perspective obtained, I breath a sigh of relief.  His gracious Spirit WILL see me through my day. He WILL go before me. My times ARE in His loving hands. 

Leaving some of the corresponding verses from my Thompson Chain Reference Bible below that also helped me as I prayed through them this morning.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.—Proverbs 3:5-6

A man's heart plans his way,

But the LORD directs his steps.—Proverbs 16:9

So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace."—Genesis 41:16

Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.—Exodus 33:15

O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You."—2 Chronicles 20:12

I was cast upon You from birth.

From My mother's womb

You have been My God.

Be not far from Me,

For trouble is near;

For there is none to help.—Psalm 22:10

Unless the LORD builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the LORD guards the city,

The watchman stays awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early,

To sit up late,

To eat the bread of sorrows;

For so He gives His beloved sleep.—Psalm 127:1-2

John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.—John 3:27

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.—John 15:4-5

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,—2 Corinthians 3:5

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.—2 Corinthians 4:7

Feeling Weak?

 

9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.—Colossians 2:9-10

Beloved…if you are feeling weak, helpless and insufficient this morning…that’s okay because, as Paul says, who is sufficient for these things?  It is by the grace of God we are who we are. It is not we who labor but the grace of God that is with us does the work. Such is the confidence and steadfast reliance and absolute trust that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficiently qualified in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency and qualifications come from God. The Lord says in Isaiah that He will help us. 2 Corinthians 12 reminds us that His grace is sufficient. Beloved…we can boast in our infirmities because it is then that the power of God may rest upon us. 

8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.—2 Corinthians 12:8-10

21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.—1 Corinthians 3:21-23

We are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. All of the riches of God are found in His Son Jesus. In Christ dwells all the fullness of God and we are complete in Him. As believers, all the infinite resources of heaven…all the powers of the universe are living inside us!  The Lord is our Shepherd, and we are His little lambs. In His Son, we have everything we need. 

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.—Ephesians 6:10

11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;—Colossians 1:11

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.—Ephesians 1:22-23

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,—Colossians 1:19