Commiting Adultery with a Tree and True Repentance
It is the latter half of the 7th century BC, about one hundred years after the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians. Josiah has been king of Judah for over a decade. He has been ruthlessly opposing idolatry in both the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the fallen Israel in the north. Jeremiah, the Prophet, receives a word from the Lord.
In Context: Judah is in the middle of an incredible religious revival. God says Judah's repentance is not "with all her heart, but rather in deception." Judah has put away the idols, is rebuilding the temple, restoring temple worship, and celebrating Mosaic feasts. That wasn't enough. What else could God want?
He didn't want their actions. He wanted their motives.
God is not so much concerned about what we do as He is with why we do. Sure, the people of Judah put away their idols, but they still liked their idols. God wanted them to like Him over their idols, not just put Him first.
God wants us to treasure Him over our sin, not just do "churchy" things instead of sin. If you serve God without loving God, you haven't yet served Him fully. True repentance is more than just a change in direction. It is a change of being. You become a new person. The only way to ever stop committing adultery with the tree is to love your wife more than you do the tree, so much more that you forget about the tree altogether.
Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. I thought, 'After she has done all these things she will return to Me;' but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it... I had sent [Israel] away and given her a writ of divorce... Because of the lightness of [Judah's] harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees... Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but rather in deception." Jeremiah 3:6-10Israel goes after idols. God destroys her by means of the Assyrians, "a writ of divorce." Judah see it and commits idolatry anyway, even more so than Israel. God calls this "committing adultery with stones and tress" (idols are made of wood).
In Context: Judah is in the middle of an incredible religious revival. God says Judah's repentance is not "with all her heart, but rather in deception." Judah has put away the idols, is rebuilding the temple, restoring temple worship, and celebrating Mosaic feasts. That wasn't enough. What else could God want?
He didn't want their actions. He wanted their motives.
God is not so much concerned about what we do as He is with why we do. Sure, the people of Judah put away their idols, but they still liked their idols. God wanted them to like Him over their idols, not just put Him first.
God wants us to treasure Him over our sin, not just do "churchy" things instead of sin. If you serve God without loving God, you haven't yet served Him fully. True repentance is more than just a change in direction. It is a change of being. You become a new person. The only way to ever stop committing adultery with the tree is to love your wife more than you do the tree, so much more that you forget about the tree altogether.
Labels: Devotional
posted by Bryan Cirlot at
12:51 PM
1 Comments:
You have to love, trust, and believe that the LORD our God is the one and only God. If you do this you will not be afraid of any army, person, or any thing. All you have to do is hold the hand of the LORD and all be taken care of.
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