Fade

Jeremiah 2:1-8 The word of the Lord came to me:
[2] "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

" 'I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the desert,
through a land not sown.
[3] Israel was holy to the Lord,
the firstfruits of his harvest;
all who devoured her were held guilty,
and disaster overtook them,' "
declares the Lord.

[4] Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob,
all you clans of the house of Israel.

[5] This is what the Lord says:

"What fault did your fathers find in me,
that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
and became worthless themselves.
[6] They did not ask, 'Where is the Lord,
who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
through a land of deserts and rifts,
a land of drought and darkness,
a land where no-one travels and no-one lives?'
[7] I brought you into a fertile land
to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land
and made my inheritance detestable.
[8] The priests did not ask,
'Where is the Lord?'
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
following worthless idols.

There is a contrast in these two paragraphs. The first speaks of devotion and faithfulness – not just of God to his people, but his people in devotion to him also. The Hebrews of the Exodus lived day by day in the graciousness and love of God. They depended on him daily and he provided for them. So they worshipped him as a sign of their devotion.

But after the Exodus the history of God’s people changes. They were provided with a fertile land that met their needs. Their experience of the divine presence of God faded, and so too did their dependence on, and faithfulness to him, until in Jeremiah’s time there was a coldness.

This wasn’t just a national symptom – it was a personal one too, for what is a nations’s devotion if it is not the sum total of it’s people? So I wonder if we are in situations like this too – that day by day we find ourselves less reliant on the Lord for help, and as such our devotion fades…. I wonder how much we need a day by day experience of God to stop this slow dying of the light....