Jeremiah 2:9-11
“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.”
“Go west and look in the land of Cyprus; go east and search through the land of Kedar. Has anyone ever heard of anything as strange as this? Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols!”
I had always thought this an illustration. The more I think, it must be fact. Anthropologists would probably agree people in ancient pagan cultures did not trade in their gods. They were imbedded in their identity and heritage. Why is it that only Israel casts their god aside? Satan, like any general, focuses his resources where the battle is fiercest, where God is working. The human condition is illustrated in Israel’s off and on relationship with God. We always want to go our own way. Regardless of who we are, where we were born, or at what time, when God lays down a line, we always try to put our toe across it. Satan is happy to lead the way.
Lord, I am guilty every day of putting you aside. I turn to my own interests after my daily time with you is over. I forget my fervent morning prayers in meeting the demands of the day. Forgive me. Change me. Renew my heart. Fill me.