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they quit asking

Jeremiah 2:1-13 (JDV)

Jeremiah 2:1 The word of Yahveh came to me:
Jeremiah 2:2 “Go and call in the ears of Jerusalem that this is what Yahveh says: I remember the covenant loyalty of your youth, your care as a bride—how you followed me in the open country, in a land not sown.
Jeremiah 2:3 Israel was holy to Yahveh, the first of his harvest. All who ate of it found themselves guilty; disaster came on them.” This is Yahveh’s declaration.
Jeremiah 2:4 Hear the word of Yahveh, house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel.
Jeremiah 2:5 This is what Yahveh says: What fault did your fathers find in me that they went so far from me, followed temporary idols, and became temporary themselves?
Jeremiah 2:6 They stopped asking, “Where is Yahveh who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the open country, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived?”
Jeremiah 2:7 I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled my land; you made my inheritance repulsive.
Jeremiah 2:8 The priests quit asking, “Where is Yahveh?” The experts in the law no longer knew me, and the rulers rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
Jeremiah 2:9 Therefore, I will bring a case against you again. This is Yahveh’s declaration. I will bring a case against your children’s children.
Jeremiah 2:10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look. Send someone to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:
Jeremiah 2:11 Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (But they were not gods!) Yet my people have exchanged what brought them glory for worthless idols.
Jeremiah 2:12 Be appalled at this, sky; be shocked and utterly desolated! This is Yahveh’s declaration.
Jeremiah 2:13 You see, my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves—cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.

they quit asking

God’s condemnation of his own people through Jeremiah is this: they used to have a relationship with the LORD but they lost it. They became so dull in their covenant loyalty that they even stopped asking where God was. They had become religiously desensitized. Even the priests and experts in the Bible were just going through the motions, with no awareness of the presence and power of God all around them.

Do we dare ask where God is today? Most of our cultures are okay with a personal, private belief, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand, or challenge our ethics. Yes, our nations are in the same boat as the nation Jeremiah was called to condemn. Jeremiah said “Israel was holy to Yahveh” — but not anymore.

Lord, rescue us from our own ignorance of you. So many of us are so spiritually dull that we don’t know you, and don’t even know to ask for you.

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