Explore the Bible: June 11

Judges • Jeremiah 2:1-13

By Don Schuman

Lesson one of this study showed God’s creative actions since the Genesis beginning to accomplish His purposes. This lesson points back to the book of Exodus when the Lord delivered His chosen people out of Egypt.

Remembered? (Jeremiah 2:1-3). The Lord fondly remembered the beginning of His covenant with Israel as one would remember the beginning of a marriage. He recalled the kindness of the young nation in following Him through a barren wilderness to a land prepared for them.

The nation was a people holy unto the Lord, separate from all other nations yet blessed uniquely by God. He gave them a written covenant that expressed His faithful love for them and His holy standards.

He more than provided for their needs by providing miraculous food and water in the wilderness and the abundant land of Canaan. He gave them victory after victory over their enemies. This generation was the first fruits of His increase, the beginning of a nation that would testify to the world of the Lord’s greatness.

Believers in Christ are blessed beyond measure by our Heavenly Father. We are known by God individually as His children and collectively as the Bride and Body of Christ. We are given everlasting life and regarded as heirs of God.

We are filled with the Holy Spirit and the attributes of God such as His love, joy, peace, and kindness. We have the Spirit and the Word of God to guide us in our daily walk. Furthermore, we have power in prayer to maintain continuous communion with the Father through Christ and by the Holy Spirit.

Forgotten? (Jeremiah 2:4-8). Although the Lord remembered the children of Israel when He delivered them, the people forgot the Lord and His deliverance. They no longer listened to His Word and followed His ways.

Why do Christians pray before eating a meal? One obvious reason is to ask for the Lord’s blessing upon the food that it would provide strength to glorify the Lord. A less obvious reason is to remind us daily that the Lord provides our blessings.

We pray lest we forget the goodness and greatness of God. Our times in private devotions and church attendance indicate how well we remember the Lord. A comparison of the typical church membership versus attendance shows how easily people can forget the Lord.

Second Thessalonians 2:3-4 indicates that one notable sign of the Lord’s return will be a falling away from the Lord. People will forget God and in their weakness turn to idolatry, reminiscent of Judah in Jeremiah’s day — but this idol will be a man of sin who will oppose God and set himself up as God. Forgetting God has disastrous consequences.

Exchanged? (Jeremiah 2:9-13). Jeremiah warned that the people had exchanged the Lord, the Fountain of living waters, for leaky and therefore worthless cisterns. The worthless idols created from the vanity of the pagan neighbors could not help.

Still worse, these pagan nations held to their gods far more intensely than Judah held to hers. The Lord challenged the people to look at their neighboring countries and name one that had exchanged its powerless idols for others, yet Judah had exchanged worship of Almighty God for gods with imaginary abilities. 

Some idols today are more subtle than images carved out of wood or stone. They can be a career that sacrifices godly principles and family for worldly success. All idols are deceptive but even a false religion or philosophy is an idol.

Romans 1:25 warns that exchanging the truth of God for a lie leads to a downward spiral of idol worship and reprobation.

The question marks in the points of this lesson remind me of a statement by Adrian Rogers: “You are not to be a question mark. You are to be an exclamation point. You are not to have a hope-so salvation. You are to have a know-so salvation.”

We should not live in questionable doubt about God’s deliverance from bondage to freedom, from death into life, and from darkness into His marvelous light. Questionable living comes from a dry spiritual life that forgets the power and glory of God.

Jesus promised those who drink of the water He gives (believes in Him) shall never thirst (will find satisfaction). Believers have the Holy Spirit to remind us of the goodness and greatness of God.

May we always remember the Lord and accept no substitutes for worship of Him in Spirit and in truth.  

Schuman is pastor of Temple Church, Myrtle.