Jeremiah 2:20-30

“For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ When on every high hill and under every green tree You lay down, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord GOD. “How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways, A wild donkey used to the wilderness, That sniffs at the wind in her desire; In her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; In her month they will find her. Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.’ “As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, So is the house of Israel ashamed; They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets, Saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ And to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble They will say, ‘Arise and save us.’ But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, If they can save you in the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah. “Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says the LORD. “In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.
Jeremiah 2:20-30 NKJV

God had worked wonders for the people and gave them freedom. He planted them to be a noble vine producing much fruit. Israel promised that they would be faithful to Him. Yet even as they promised to be loyal to the God of heaven, they were unfaithful to Him and worshipped false gods and idols. They became a degenerate plant, producing no fruit. They said with their mouths, I am not polluted and I have not gone after Baals, while they chased unrestrained after the desires of their heart in the form of wood and stone idols. Actions speak louder than words. I can proclaim I am a servant of Jesus and that I love God and I will follow Him in all things, yet it is meaningless if I continue to choose to sin against Him in every way that I desire. I can say 'I am a Christian', but if I put my trust in other people or my music or my TV or my job or my possessions or a political leader or an athlete or whatever it is I want to take precedence over God, then I am not a Christian. The result will be the same for me as it was for Judah, shame leading to destruction.
In the time of my distress I may call upon God and say 'Save me', but often God's answer will be 'Where is that which you have chosen to rely on.' Fortunately God can see the end from the beginning and can read the heart. Those who with an honest heart call for Him to save them and will turn in their understanding to God to obey Him, He is willing to save them. God sent the message to Judah to surrender to the attacking Babylonians. When the leaders of the nation refused to surrender the nation in obedience to God, Jeremiah's message from God was that the people were to flee to the Babylonians for mercy. A life of servitude to the pagan power would follow, yet that was God's message to the people. Those who obeyed would live. It would be a hard thing to do for most. They would have to give up the homes and sometimes the families they were used to. They would have to trust God was correct in the result of this defection as being life over death and as truly being God's will for them.
When we insist we must follow the false gods in our lives instead of God and we turn away from Him, we take away His ability to save us eternally. Because we reject the rope of life He places in our hand God cannot save us. We must have the perfect life of Jesus to cover our sinful lives. At any time prior to death we can grasp that rope and accept Jesus' life as our own and we can have eternal life. He will even supply the ability to hold onto the rope of life no matter how strong the currents trying to rip us away are. All we need to do is choose to hold the rope. God knows when we choose to let go of the objects we make into our idols and instead cling to Him and trust in Him. He is ready to take away our shame and to save us, just as God was willing to save Judah had they turned to Him in the days of Jeremiah.

Lord,
Help me today to accept Jesus as my saviour. There are things and people I am tempted to trust in instead of trusting in You. Help me to trust only in You, not in the the things that have no ability to save me, things and people which cannot help me. Give me strength and the ability to hear and obey Your words no matter what my sinful heart wants me to do. Cleanse me and help me to have a character like Yours.