By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist – May 5th, 2024
Jeremiah 2:1-13
I have been thinking about the book of Jeremiah lately. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. – so if you are looking for a positive, uplifting book, I don’t recommend Jeremiah. But there is something about this book that is incredibly relevant to our day.
Jeremiah’s ministry spanned about 50 years. Those 50 years were full of upheaval on a global scale, on a national scale, and at the individual level. It is very much like the times we find ourselves in.
At the beginning of Jeremiah’s time, the superpower of the world was the Assyrians. They had dominated the middle east for centuries. But now, during Jeremiah’s lifetime, they faded into the recesses of history, and the Babylonians took over as the world’s superpower.
On the national level, Jerusalem was captured by Babylon, and many people including Daniel were hauled off to Babylon. The faith of the people was in disarray. The king who reigned just before Jeremiah came on the scene, set up altars to Baal and other foreign gods. He even sent up an altar to a foreign god inside the temple. Another king came along and took those altars down, but faith in the true God never captured the heart of the people.
On an individual level, the economy went from being good, to being horrible. Life went from good to hard. People’s faith was fickle. Few cared about the true God.
*****
We live in a time of tremendous upheaval. Everything feels fragile. Everything is changing. Life is hard to figure out. Like Jeremiah’s time, there have been a lot of changes in the last 50 years and faith is not embraced by many people.
On a global level we see political turmoil. We see hatred begetting hatred. On a technological level, it looks like everything is going to change with AI. But we can’t figure out if those changes are going to be helpful or harmful. On an institutional level – our legal system, educational system, and health system seem to be at a breaking point. On an economic level, there seem to be a lot more people who don’t have what they need to live in our country.
On an individual level, faith in the true God is being abandoned, and idols are becoming established. Confusion reigns. It seems that there are a lot of people who are falling prey to despair. We see this in drug abuse and in people taking their own life.
The church has also had its fair share of problems. There are a lot of churches in our country who do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Nor do they acknowledge the Bible as the authority for faith and life. Faith has become more about morality than it is about having a relationship with God through his son Jesus.
We are quickly moving to a time like was recorded in the book of Judges – where everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
The point is that there are a lot of parallels between Jeremiah’s time and our time. What that means is that there are some things that we can learn from Jeremiah.
We read this passage a little earlier. But listen to it again, this time in the New Living Translation.
Jeremiah 2:4–13 (NLT)
4 Listen to the word of the Lord, people of Jacob—all you families of Israel! 5 This is what the Lord says:
“What did your ancestors find wrong with me
that led them to stray so far from me?
They worshiped worthless idols,
only to become worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord
who brought us safely out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness—
a land of deserts and pits,
a land of drought and death,
where no one lives or even travels?’
7 “And when I brought you into a fruitful land
to enjoy its bounty and goodness,
you defiled my land and
corrupted the possession I had promised you.
8 The priests did not ask,
‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who taught my word ignored me,
the rulers turned against me,
and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal,
wasting their time on worthless idols.
9 Therefore, I will bring my case against you,”
says the Lord.
“I will even bring charges against your children’s children
in the years to come.
10 “Go west and look in the land of Cyprus;
go east and search through the land of Kedar.
Has anyone ever heard of anything
as strange as this?
11 Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God
for worthless idols!
12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing
and shrink back in horror and dismay,”
says the Lord.
13 “For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!
The people of God have abandoned God and created a substitute for God. But before they get there, they fail to do something that might be instructive for us.
Jeremiah 2:6 (NLT)
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord
who brought us safely out of Egypt?
and led us through the barren wilderness—
’
Jeremiah 2:8 (NLT)
8 The priests did not ask,
‘Where is the Lord?’
They worshipped idols and they did not ask “Where is the Lord?”
Now I get those dark nights of the soul, where the darkness crushes in, and when we wonder where God is. I get sometimes when we experience the hiddenness of God. Even Jesus on the cross prayed, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” Those are tough times when all we want is the presence of God, and we can’t seem to find it. And God comes along to us in those times and whispers in our ear, “The just shall live by faith.” And God teaches us to follow him, even when we don’t feel him.
But that is not what Jeremiah is talking about here, when he says, “They did not ask, “Where is the Lord?”
When one superpower is declining and another superpower is ascending, they failed to ask, “Where is the Lord?” “When the harvests were bountiful and the life was good, they failed to ask, “Where is the Lord?” When the economy tanked and the threats were significant, they failed to ask, where is the Lord.
Even when they were doing their religious duties, and listened to priest who were teaching the word of God, they failed to ask, “Where is the Lord?”
God goes on, right after this in verse 9 and says.
“Therefore, I will bring my case against you.”
It would seem that God thinks that this a really important question. If God thinks that, then it is a really important question.
It is a really important question for our church to ask. It is a really important question for you to ask. But it is one of those questions that we are not all that inclined to ask.
We are moving into election season in North America. The US elections are in November of this year and the Canadian elections will be some time in 2025.
When you ask the question, where is God in the American election. Or where is God in the Canadian election. I think it is fair to say that God is not with either the Democrats or the Republicans, the Liberals or the Conservatives. What does that tell you? It tells you not to put your hope in the Democrats or the Republicans, the Liberals or the Conservatives.
When you listen to the rhetoric you hear, “If we don’t get the right person, it is the end of the world.” If we don’t get the economy fixed it is the end of the world. If we don’t have religious freedom like my grandma, did it is the end of the world.
But this is not the truth. Listen, government matters. Policy matters. But our hope for real life doesn’t reside in the government or its policies. Our hope for peace, for a sense of well being – also known as joy – our hope of love resides in Jesus. Government matters but not near as much as walking in relationship to Jesus.
Our hope, our faith, is not in a political party or a political leader, our hope and our faith is the God of the universe. Our hope and our faith is in Jesus.
We have faith that God keeps his promises, and nothing can thwart the plans of God. We know this from the Old Testament we know this from the New Testament.
We know this because Pilate, the first century ruler of the day, said of Jesus, take him away, crucify him, it is over it is done. But the only reason you know Pilate’s name is because you know the story of Jesus. Pilate became a footnote in history, and only that because he was linked up to the story of Jesus.
The upcoming elections will become a footnote in history as well. But right now, the thing to ask is, where is God? If he is not with the Democrats or the Republican, then I refuse to put my hope there. If he is not with the Liberals or Conservatives I refuse to put my hope there. I am hoping in something different. I am trusting in something different. What are you trusting in?
Where is the Lord in your life? There are some of you who are walking with him moment by moment. There are some of you who are almost on the other end of the scale. You can go days and days with out talking to God, and without thanking God. You know he is there, because you believe in his love. But your relationship with him is distant at best.
I don’t know who you are, but I can tell you something about yourself. Your life is either full of idols or is about to be full of idols. Idols are those things that you turn to more than God – that you are trusting more than God, and who have more authority in your life than God. All I can say to you is repent and quickly. It is a short ride from where you are to abandoning God all together.
So where is the Lord in your life? It is kind of an odd question I know, even if it is the question from scripture. We know that God is everywhere present.
But there are some things that attract the blessing of God. There are some things that attract the presence of God. We know that when even two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name that he shows up. Where is the Lord – he is with those who gather in his name. We know that we are told to pray in secret – and God sees us there. God shows up when we pray. We know that God inhabits the praises of his people. We know that unity attracts the presence of God. We know that God is near those who turn to him. We know that he feeds our souls through communion.
But so often our lives are filled with other things. We work hard. We play hard. We are entertained. We scroll through social media. We stream movies. We watch sports. None of these things are bad in and of themselves. But if those things become our life rather than Jesus, things go poorly.
How do you know when those things become your life? You know it by what controls your life. When something other than God controls your life – it is called an idol.
Let’s go back to the story of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 2:11–12 (NLT)
11 Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God*
for worthless idols!
12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing
and shrink back in horror and dismay,”
says the Lord.
Can you imagine being an angel in heaven and you see the glory of God. You see that life. I mean full abundant true life is in God. You see clearly his goodness, and justice and his love. Oh, you see how he loves his people. They are the apple of his eye.
Then you see God’s people ditching their glorious, good, loving, compassionate God, and they take up with petty chunks of wood. Idols that are no gods at all.
The angels are shocked, they shrink back in horror. How can people be that stupid? But we can be. Our idols, although less tangible than Jeremiah’s people, are every bit as petty.
Jeremiah 2:13 (NLT)
13 “For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!
You get the picture here. The people had access to a pure spring of water. It kept on flowing. It was good water – Nourishing water. There was a lot of it. But the people said, we want to do it our own way.
So that dug into the rock a cistern, and then they plastered that cistern. But the worst of it was, they were not even very good cistern makers – because the cistern leaks. Cistern water is not a good as a stream of water- but when as cistern is functioning, it is often easier to get water from than a stream is. Have you ever tried to get a bucket of water from a steam. It takes patience.
Larry Crabb puts it this way
Digging leaky wells highlights our desire for immediate satisfaction on demand and on terms we can control. This is an immense problem. We experience soul-pain, a profoundly empty space that demands to be filled. We settle for lesser satisfactions than living water. We want pleasure that will fill us with joy. We dig wells when we are ruled by urges to feel good now. Whatever provides even a brief experience of ache-free happiness becomes irresistible. And we assume the responsibility to arrange for the pleasure we want. We dig our own wells. We don’t like being at the mercy of an unpredictable God.
Do you get what he is saying. We all have things our soul thirsts for. It may be a pain from the past or the present. It may be success or power or acclaim. We may be looking to get away from our anxious hearts, or our stressed-out lives, or that feeling of being overwhelmed or helpless. We may be looking to cope with the rejection we feel, or the insecurity we face.
So, what we do we do with all those feelings. We dig leaky wells. We create broken cisterns. We have those things that we can go to for immediate satisfaction – to dull the pain – to distract from the heartache.
We settle for lessor satisfactions. A tub of ice cream, a binge on Netflix, a shot of whiskey, – whatever will distract us from the hurt and numb the pain.
Here is the thing about cisterns we dig. The water isn’t as good, and the supply runs out. It may temporarily quench our thirst, but it will not sustain our life. The water from a cistern is stagnant, not very good – but it is quick.
***
God talks about himself as the spring, the fountain of living water. Doesn’t that remind you of the words of Jesus to the woman at the well.
John 4:13–14 (NLT)
13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
Here is what I have discovered is that takes a while learning to draw water from the spring. The self-made cisterns are always closer. The spiring of living water always takes more effort to get to. Going to the cistern brings immediate results that don’t last – and you will find after a while that it quits working.
I have also found that if you don’t continually go to the spring, the path seems to get overgrown quickly. It becomes harder to get to and harder to find.
Learning to draw water from the spring takes time to learn. Have you ever tried to get a bucket of water from a stream. It takes some patience, and you have to learn some techniques to keep the sand out of bucket. You have to do it a number of times to get good at it.
It is the same thing when you are learning to draw your strength from God. It takes some time to develop habits that allow you to lean on him to find strength for your soul.
When a crisis hits and you haven’t developed the habits, we go running around, – where is my bucket, do I even have a bucket, Oh there is a hole in my bucket, how am I going to get water from the stream. Where is that stream, where is a good place to stand to get the water.
But when you have developed the habit of going to the stream, and the fiery arrow strikes your life, or the heat gets turned up in your life, and the thirst is real. You know where your stream dipping tools are. You know where the stream is because the path is well worn. You can get there with your eyes closed. You know where your bucket is and you know how to get water from the stream, to quench your thirst, to throw water on the fire.
Some of you are here today and you are saying, I really need to develop that path to the stream. Start by asking, where is the Lord.
I have found that the path becomes developed when scripture becomes a part of you, when you find ways in prayer where you really connect with God. I have found the ability to draw from the stream comes from developing disciplines that work for you. For some of you that will mean journaling, for others of you, that will mean taking a walk. For other of you that could mean listening to worship music. But learn the path to God that works for you.
Where is the Lord? Ask that question. Find answers to that question. Live your life out of the answers you find.
We are living in a world, like Jeremiah’s world, where things are changing. There are so many things that are uncertain. If you want to live well in this world, you are going to have to develop a well-worn path to the stream.
There are a lot of things in our world that will numb your soul. But Jesus is the one who will feed your soul. Will you choose to learn the way to the spring? Will you choose to learn to draw water from the stream? Will you choose to learn to find strength in God to meet the challenges of our time?