Jeremiah 2 illustrates how Israel forsook God. The nation started out in love with God, like a new bride with her husband. But then, over time, Israel abandoned God and went after false gods.
You are a swift she-camel running here and there, 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. 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.’
Yet in spite of all this 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.’ Why do you go about so much, changing your ways?
The picture of running around, here and there, trying to find satisfaction is what hit me this morning. Israel did not want God. Even though He was their only source of joy and satisfaction, Israel wanted something else. It is like offering a thirsty man cold water, but instead he rejects it because he would rather have Coke–something fizzy, different and exciting that tastes good but ultimately does not quench one’s thirst. In fact, I read recently that Coke is actually a diuretic that, in the end, makes you even more thirsty! Sin does the same thing. It entices us with its fizzy bubbles but in the end leaves us thirstier than before.
Jeremiah’s picture is more graphic. He compares Israel to an animal in heat, sniffing the wind and running around frantically looking for a mate. God gently encourages them to stop but they snap back at God, “It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.” It’s like an addiction. I know it is harming me but I have to have it! Wow, we can really mess ourselves up, can’t we?
The sad thing is that in the midst of all this, Israel maintained its innocence. “I am innocent; God is not angry with me.” It is amazing the mental gymnastics we can do. We can abandon God, run wild after temporary, sinful lusts, and then look God and others in the face and say, “I am innocent. God is okay with me. After all I am just a likeable person when you get past all the grime in my life.”
It is interesting that the reason God says He is going to pass judgment on Israel is “because you say, ‘I have not sinned’” (2:35). A person struggling with sin, fighting lust, battling the pull of addiction, and failing at times, still has hope because they know they need help. They know their life is not where it is supposed to be. It is when a person becomes self-deluded in their sin, comfortable in it, “innocent” in it, that God passes judgment.
I am reminded what Jesus said in Mark 2:17, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus has come to save all mankind from their sins but it is only the ones who know they are sick and need a doctor who ultimately receive the cure.
Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me from myself. Keep me from running after the temporary pleasures of sin and help me to find my rest in You.