THE LORD HAS REJECTED THOSE YOU TRUST

Jeremiah 2:20-3:5 / Keywords 2:37

You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.

 

2:20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke

    and tore off your bonds;

    you said, ‘I will not serve you!’

Indeed, on every high hill

    and under every spreading tree

    you lay down as a prostitute.

21 I had planted you like a choice vine

    of sound and reliable stock.

How then did you turn against me

    into a corrupt, wild vine?

22 Although you wash yourself with soap

    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,

    the stain of your guilt is still before me,”

declares the Sovereign Lord.

23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;

    I have not run after the Baals’?

See how you behaved in the valley;

    consider what you have done.

You are a swift she-camel

    running here and there,

24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,

    sniffing the wind in her craving—

    in her heat who can restrain her?

Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;

    at mating time they will find her.

25 Do not run until your feet are bare

    and your throat is dry.

But you said, ‘It’s no use!

    I love foreign gods,

    and I must go after them.’

26 “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught,

    so the people of Israel are disgraced—

they, their kings and their officials,

    their priests and their prophets.

27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’

    and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

They have turned their backs to me

    and not their faces;

yet when they are in trouble, they say,

    ‘Come and save us!’

28 Where then are the gods you made for yourselves?

    Let them come if they can save you

    when you are in trouble!

For you, Judah, have as many gods

    as you have towns.

29 “Why do you bring charges against me?

    You have all rebelled against me,”

declares the Lord.

30 “In vain I punished your people;

    they did not respond to correction.

Your sword has devoured your prophets

    like a ravenous lion.

31 “You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord:

“Have I been a desert to Israel

    or a land of great darkness?

Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam;

    we will come to you no more’?

32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry,

    a bride her wedding ornaments?

Yet my people have forgotten me,

    days without number.

33 How skilled you are at pursuing love!

    Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.

34 On your clothes is found

    the lifeblood of the innocent poor,

    though you did not catch them breaking in.

Yet in spite of all this

35     you say, ‘I am innocent;

    he is not angry with me.’

But I will pass judgment on you

    because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

36 Why do you go about so much,

    changing your ways?

You will be disappointed by Egypt

    as you were by Assyria.

37 You will also leave that place

    with your hands on your head,

for the Lord has rejected those you trust;

    you will not be helped by them.

3:1 “If a man divorces his wife

    and she leaves him and marries another man,

should he return to her again?

    Would not the land be completely defiled?

But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—

    would you now return to me?”

declares the Lord.

2 “Look up to the barren heights and see.

    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?

By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,

    sat like a nomad in the desert.

You have defiled the land

    with your prostitution and wickedness.

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,

    and no spring rains have fallen.

Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;

    you refuse to blush with shame.

4 Have you not just called to me:

    ‘My Father, my friend from my youth,

5 will you always be angry?

    Will your wrath continue forever?’

This is how you talk,

    but you do all the evil you can.”

1. The people of Judah committed spiritual adultery as they turned away from God. They acted like a prostitute giving themselves to foreign gods (20). They were like unfruitful useless vines (21), stained clothes that could not be washed with soap (22), and animals in heat running after mates (23).

 

2. The people of Israel were disgraced as she tried to save herself by turning to Assyria and Egypt (26). As they turned to their gods made of stone and wood, they also thought other kings would help them out of trouble. They turned away from God’s grace and ignored his punishment (30). Then what was the result? They were disappointed by Egypt and Assyria. Salvation could not be found in those places where God did not dwell (37).

 

3. By the Mosaic Law, a woman who had left her husband and married another man could not return to her first husband later (3:1). The people of Judah took God’s grace for granted (4). But it was not something they could demand. They had to humbly repent and turn away from their way of evil (5).

 

Prayer Father, please forgive me for my sins for turning away from you and seeking comfort elsewhere. Please accept my humble prayer as I come to you with a broken heart. I want to find comfort and peace as I live in your will.

One Word Trust none other than the Lord