Day 112: A bad trade-off – Jeremiah 2 vs 9 – 19

9 I will bring my case against you,” says the Lord. “I will even bring charges against your children’s children in the years to come.

10 “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? 11 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! 12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the Lord. 13 “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me - the fountain of living water - and they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!

14-16 “Why has Israel become a slave? Why has he been carried away as plunder? Strong lions have roared against him, and the land has been destroyed. The towns are now in ruins, and no one lives in them anymore. Egyptians, marching from their cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes, have destroyed Israel’s glory and power. 17 And you have brought this upon yourselves by rebelling against the Lord your God, even though he was leading you on the way!” 18 “What have you gained by your alliances with Egypt and your covenants with Assyria? What good to you are the streams of the Nile or the waters of the Euphrates River? 19 Your wickedness will bring its own punishment. Your turning from me will shame you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to abandon the Lord your God and not to fear him. I, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken! (New Living Translation.)

Jeremiah was a prophet through whom God was presenting His case against the nation for rejecting Him despite all He had done for them. What do vs 10-11 say the nation had done?

Whereas nations who worshipped idols (which were worthless) had stayed true to their 'gods' – God's people had traded the only true God for idols. No wonder the very heavens were shocked! (vs 12). Who in their right mind would ever trade something extremely precious for something totally useless? How does God describe the foolishness of what they had done? (vs 13)

Imagine moving away from a lovely fountain of fresh flowing water to set up home next to a cracked water tank. The waters gone and there's only mud left behind. The Lord may have used this picture because both nations that the Israelites hoped would help them had big rivers. Assyria had the Euphrates River and Egypt had the Nile. But, compared to God, these nations would be of no help at all. In fact, history shows that they actually turned against Israel and left the nation in tatters. (vs 14-16) But whose fault was it? (vs 17)

Verses 18-19 are not just true of Israel all those years ago – they are true in every age of anyone who looks for meaning and satisfaction in life in people, places and things, instead of in God Himself. As Jeremiah says in vs 19 says – a life of wickedness brings its own punishments and ends in shame. Such people will discover what an evil, bitter thing it is to abandon the Lord and not to fear him. I'm sure you can think of some of the things that people have 'traded God’ for. Some run after fame, others after wealth, and still others after sensual pleasures.

In keeping with the picture of a fountain of living water it's worth remembering what Jesus said at one of the great festivals in Jerusalem. “On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.' He said this about the Spirit who those who believed in Him were going to receive.” (John 7:37-39) The Holy Spirit is the one who makes God's love known deep within us. And when anyone truly knows that love – they wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!