Jeremiah 3:6-10 – Committing to God wholeheartedly.

Jeremiah’s ministry began during the reign of Josiah. Engaging him in a conversation. God asked Jeremiah if he had seen what Israel had done to Him? The Lord was calling attention to Israel’s sin. He abhorred that Israel had become so maliciously unfaithful. She had chosen to give herself freely over to harlotry. God was speaking about her spiritual adultery. Israel had rampantly embraced idol worship on every hilltop shrine.

 

Spiritually Israel had prostituted herself. Though she had a covenant relationship with God and was told never to bow down to any gods, she chose to unfaithfully break the covenant. She had gone around and bowed down to all sorts of worthless gods. All these while God waited in vain for her return from her immoral fling. Israel had disappointed Him by not returning to Him. So for her unfaithfulness to the covenant relationship, God sent her away. Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians and many of her citizens were carried away .

 

While Israel was sinning against God and reaping the consequences, Judah her treacherous sister saw all that was happening, yet it did not instil any fear of the Lord in her. She should have learned from the consequence of Israel's unfaithfulness, instead she chose to emulate and follow in her harlotry. She went ahead and did everything that her wicked sister Israel had done. She also went around and play the harlot with worthless idols. Rampantly, Judah polluted the land and committed spiritual adultery with idols of stone and wood. Judah’s attempts at reform was not met with wholeheartedly her people. What God saw was the hypocrisy in her feeble attempts.

 

Historically, we know that Josiah was a good king who brought about reform in Judah. However, God who searches the intention of the heart was against the people’s half-heartedness. They were merely going through the motion without real intention to go for lasting inward change. What God desires to see is His people inner radical change. Tue repentance is a total change of heart and mind toward sin and committing to God a hundred percent. Are we committing ourselves totally to God?  To give to God anything less than a hundred percent commitment to Him is an unworthy response. Let us give ourselves radically to God.