Pray:
Father, as I come before Your Word, help me to allow You to expose and root out all that is opposed to Your reign in me.
Read:
Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
Reflect:
Who or what is on the throne of your life?
The theme of spiritual unfaithfulness continues today. Idolatry is equated with spiritual adultery. Idolatry occurs whenever we seek our security or place our trust in anything other than God. It can take many forms: possessions we own or would like to own; personalities we admire; money in the bank; past achievements or future ambitions.
Through Jeremiah, God repeatedly pleads with his faithless people to return (3:12,14,22; 4:1) and be cured of their backsliding. If not, Judah is threatened with a similar fate to the one that befell her northern sister Israel only a century earlier.
In 930 BC, the nation was divided in two: Israel (or Samaria) to the north and Judah to the south. Because of its idolatry, in 722 BC God allowed Israel to be overthrown by the then mighty Assyrian Empire. A century on and Judah is in the same position. They have learned nothing from history.
But for Judah there is hope. If they turn back to God, there is promise of restoration even at this late stage (3:15-18).
Apply:
Consider your calendar and your checkbook. What story do they tell as far as what you are serving? Journal thoughts.
Pray:
You are Lord. In every thought, in every decision, in every interaction, may it be evidence that You are my only God.
