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Word from Scotland

    by Sandy Shaw

A Compromising Complacent Settled People Have Jilted God
Date Posted: July 11, 2022

We move into Jeremiah Chapter 2 – and from verse 1right down to Chapter 3verse 5, we have one of his sermons - one of his messages, or addresses.

We are reading of a young man - in his teens - preaching for the first time - not in the Temple, but in the streets of Jerusalem - to very unsympathetic crowds who really did not want to hear what he had to say. He is young - with little or no experience - but with The Call of God upon his life.

His theme is - Israel's Neglect of God – 2verse 1to 3verse 5.

The backsliding of the Hebrew people is here very tenderly described in terms similar to those used in Hosea. Israel had left Egypt and followed her husband to a strange land. Exodus 19 verse 4

The wilderness is defined as a land ... not sown. The midbar or desert of the Middle East is not completely desolate, but it is an uncultivated land over which the Bedouins roam to find pasture for their flocks.

Remember, Jeremiah is regarded as a gloom and doom man - and they are normally unpopular - even though they speak The Word of God. Jeremiah was called to proclaim the Word of God - seeking to get people to see the real situation. People, generally speaking, do not like to have the real actual situation pointed out to them.

Jeremiah’s preaching is full of challenging questions to people - “What wrong have you found with Me ?” Why have you changed your gods ? Verses 5,11. It is very direct preaching. It is basic fundamental preaching. God is going to bring charges against them and their children. Verse 9.

God begins with what it was like in the early days - God remembers the holy honeymoon. God had taken this people to be His people - His bride - ‘then you were so willing to follow ME, even when I led you through a dry desert.’ Verse 2.

“You really loved Me – and it was true love - you followed ME wherever I led you - by the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. You just went with ME - and I let nobody touch you - I dealt with them. Verse 3. You were MY FRUIT, and, you were called to be HOLY.

“Now - you have forsaken ME - and God opens up His heart - and shares His feelings. Verse 5 . God suffers when we get away from Him - not just us.

Remember - prose speaks of facts - poetry speaks of feelings.

We are a fallen people - and a falling people - we have fallen away from our origins - and even we can fall away from our first love.

Verses 4to 13 . What has gone wrong? Why has all this happened? I led you through this wilderness and kept you – over two million of you.

But - when they came into the land and settled - they became what we might call today - sophisticated. They were no longer totally dependent upon God and no longer suffering under the sore punishments of the Egyptians. There were now so many things to fill their time - so many perverted practices continuing in the land - and they were supposed to have cleared them all out - it was a land of rotten religion - and they saw things in the Promised Land which they never saw in the wilderness.

This is a painful reading as Jeremiah speaks of how this chosen people have jilted the God who chose them – revealing the heart of God – and how we can affect how God feels.

It did not suddenly happen overnight – but gradually the marriage turned sour, and Judah is no longer devoted to God – but has turned to worthless idols. What a warning to each of us who belong to God through Jesus Christ in these days where compromise and complacency cause devastation in all kinds of ways.

“Gracious Father – we give thanks for the solemn and serious warning given in these opening words of the prophet Jeremiah – we give thanks for the grace and mercy and love of Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord – help us to remain faithful and obedient – enable us to stand in day when we see compromise and complacency all around us – we pray in Jesus’ Name.” Amen.

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (Sept. 24, 2010)

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Biography Information:

Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!

Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.

Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.

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