Walking With Christ

Jeremiah 2:5 Thus says the Lord: What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

The entire book of Jeremiah is a crazy roller coaster. The book begins with God telling Jeremiah, “I know you. I made you. I set you apart. You’re mine.” Jeremiah argues that he can’t speak because he is young. God touches his lips and says, “It doesn’t matter that you’re young. I’ll give you the words. Just go where I tell you and say what I tell you to say and you’ll be good. Don’t be afraid of anyone because I have you covered. Now, let’s go wreck some stuff. Quick check, what do you see?” Jeremiah said, “An almond branch?” God replies, “Good. Now what do you see?” Jeremiah says, “I see a boiling pot.” Then God says, “Good. See? It’s working. I’m going to call down some judgement and you get to be the one to tell them. Now, get dressed. It’s time to ruin some people’s days.”

That’s just a summary of chapter one. Chapter two is one of the most painful roasts I’ve read in the bible. God starts by recounting how good Israel had it when they were following God. God directly calls Israel a whore in verse 20. He said nobody who wanted to violate Israel would ever have to go looking because if they just waited for a bit Israel would do the work for them in verse 24.

If I’m being honest, I like a good dis track. I think that most of this chapter is gold when it comes to insult comedy. Then I look in the mirror. When I stop laughing for a moment, I realize that most of what is in this chapter could be applied to me just as easily as it was to the nation of Israel. Verse 22 says that even though they washed themselves, the stain of their sin was still visible to God. Bad deals and bad “friends” spoil intended blessings. It’s amazing how often I will turn to any other option before my pride will let me take it to God. It always seems like God is the last option and I only do that grudgingly. I’d like to say that this is the old me speaking. I see far too much evidence that more work needs to be done.

When applying this chapter to my own life, some parts go from laugh out loud funny to earth shaking scary. For instance, verse 28 asks where the gods I made for myself went and why they can’t save me. God says, “I was good to you. Why did you go chasing after the stupid stuff? Now I have a problem with you. Why do you have a problem with Me? I tried to correct you. You refused to listen. You have put your trust in something other than Me, and I reject the ones you trust. When you lean on them, you will fall. I won’t be there to catch you this time.”

God is the one I should trust. God help me, but I’m trying. Trust is the one thing that stands between me and the peace of His shadow. Trust takes time to build. It’s not a choice. It’s layered by experiences and builds strength over time. It will always be fragile, but each new layer adds just a little more strength to the bridge that crosses that gap. I know without any doubt in my mind that God will always do what’s best. He is very willing to kill you if that’s what it takes to fix you. He is willing to destroy and completely rebuild with only the smallest remnants of what was before. Having lived that? Maybe that’s where my hesitation comes from. This isn’t “something came up and I don’t know how I’m going to pay my bills” or “I wonder what I’m going to eat today”. I completely trust there. Something to think about.

Ok, that took a turn I wasn’t expecting or ready for. I’m going to go back and read all of Jeremiah chapter two again without looking in the mirror just for a chuckle. Then I’m going to rejoice in the fact that I know that Jesus has truly washed my sin away. I will lean into the truth that I know He is really working in my life to change me from what I was to who He knows I will be. I know that the journey isn’t over and, even though there are guaranteed to be parts of the journey that I don’t like, I know that the trip will be worth it.