Jeremiah 2 Devotions by Stephen Taylor

Jeremiah 2:11

“Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.”

After I read this verse, I thought, “Why, oh why, America, have you followed in these footsteps?” I see so many similarities between the nation of Israel and the nation we live in. God gave them land to live in and worship Him, and He did the same for us. God provided and protected them, and He did the same for us. God called them to be a holy nation set apart to Him, and He did the same for us.

The abundance and protection we have enjoyed in this land are unmatched around the world. There are nations that struggle for the scraps we throw away. This abundance, this blessing, was not something we earned nor deserved but a gift God gave us that we quickly perverted. This nation was founded upon the truths of Scripture, but now it is built upon the perversions and lies of the enemy. What was once a nation seeking the true God is now a nation trying to erase the memory of Him. We, like the Israelites, have traded our glorious God for worthless idols and have ourselves become mightily ineffective and docile. The truth of God’s Word is no longer desired or feared, but rather it is attacked and defamed. Our country has taken the road of rebellion, and I’m afraid it’s gone too far.

But thanks be to God, who is rich in mercy and full of grace, because I also believe that if we humble ourselves and repent, we will be received and cleansed. This is not a post to beat up our nation or point fingers at anyone; it’s just a sad realization that we are heading down the same path so many have wandered and wished they wouldn’t have. But today can be different; today can be a day of repentance and restoration in the Lord. We need only to humble ourselves before Him in reverent repentance and turn back to our God!

2 Chronicles 7:13,14- “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

God bless! I love you all, but He loves us so much He is willing to forgive us! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

Jeremiah 2:13

“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.”

Is this us ,Church? Is this message in Jeremiah for us?! Have we traded the eternal God for finite living? As I was reading the first couple chapters of Jeremiah today, it was being poured into me, how we like the Israelites have turned from God and toward ourselves and the things we have created with our hands. I’m so guilty of this on so many levels, and today, I am turning back to the Lord. Today, I choose to serve the Living God, not the dead one I created.

This sin of pride is the same sin since the beginning in the garden. The same one the original creation committed. The prideful desire to be like God! How often I have looked at what I can do instead of who He is! This passage spoke to me today on different levels, but the main question that came to me was, as His children, have we forsaken God and put ourselves in His place?

But don’t lose heart, for the Bible tells us He chastens the one He loves and that His mercies are new every morning!!! Let’s repent and turn back to the open arms of our Father!!! Let’s trade our weaknesses for His strength, our timidity for His boldness, our lying tongues for His honest one, our pride for His humility, and our shame for His salvation!!!

After all that the Lord says about the Israelites in the first 6 chapters, there is a verse that caught my eye and gave me hope. In Jeremiah 6:23, the Lord still refers to them as “Daughter Zion”!!! Even after all they had done, He still considers them family and is still their Father!!! If our Hope is in Jesus, we will never be cast out or put to shame!!! Dying to self and repenting have to be done honestly, humbly, and daily!!!

Be encouraged and be encouraging!!! I love you all, God bless, Glory to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!!!