A Power Greater Than Idolatry
I have been swimming in Jeremiah lately. Quite a while ago, I listened to Larry Crabb speak out of Jeremiah when I was at SSD working as one of his spiritual directors and it made me want to get into the book again.
First, you can’t read Jeremiah without encountering one of his major themes. Idolatry. It is spoken about in virtually every sentence. What I take from this is that idolatry is a big problem. Pretty obvious deduction. We are all guilty of it. Also, it is very pervasive and subtle in a relational sense.
The book of Jeremiah is hard to read but it is not boring. I would rather read something hard, that has some teeth and substance, than to be bored. "God is not an uncle. He is an earthquake." (Abraham Heschel) God is never boring. Sin is ultimately very boring. It may be pleasurable for a season but in the end it is boring.
God is an earthquake in the book of Jeremiah. He is so deeply jealous for the love of his people. He seems like a madman. Even Jeremiah at times is waylaid by God’s furious love. He often falls away from God only to come back because everything and everyone else cannot satisfy what he deeply longs for.
His soul was meant for God. Our souls were meant for God. The deepest longing in the soul is reserved for God and God alone. Now, we may seek to fill our lives, and often do foolishly, with things or people other than God but as God tells Jeremiah in chapter two, it is like drawing from a well that is cracked and does not hold water.
In Jeremiah 15, Jeremiah wonders out loud if God is like a deceitful brook, promising refreshment and energy only to lead him astray (verse 18).
God sees deep within Jeremiah, and while he does not rebuke him for his honesty, he knows that he is prone to wander (like the old, rich hymn “prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love). So God tells him to “return”. It’s encouraging to me that Jeremiah is also prone to wander. I sense the same temptation in me.
Gerald Mays book “Addiction and Grace” speaks about how at the core of addiction is the propensity to wander from God. He makes the important point that we are all addicted to many, many things. There is no point in trying to manage our addictions. There needs to be a greater power at work. May makes the point that Grace is the most powerful energy in the universe. Only Christ can give it to us.
Grace transends addiction (idolatry) even if it does not completely stop it in this world. I find this to be extremely hopeful. After reading Jeremiah, I have often thought “What is the point of trying, God?” It seems like we must get to this point in our lives (time and time again) before we are able to receive the Grace that God so graciously offers.
Jeremiah chapters 29 to 31 pulls back the curtain on idolatry to reveal something much deeper and much more powerful. The work accomplished by the Grace of God. The Holy Spirit coming to indwell Christians. The power greater than idolatry. The law of God has not changed, but for Christians it has changed location…from tablets of stone into human hearts!
I don’t think the book of Jeremiah was given in order to keep us from committing idolatry. We don’t have the power to do stop. It is beyond us. I think the book was given to us so that we will despair so deeply in our own efforts to manage our sin, that we seek out a greater power, which only God can give. The power of Grace.
Gerald May makes the point that even our propensity to gain an upper hand on our addictions is part of our addictive behavior. We are sin managers. Coming to the end of ourselves in this regard is a life-long process. It happens again and again and again. And when we are worn out, and exhausted from trying so hard, God is there offering what he has always offered through the giving of his Son. Grace.
Thank you God, for the book of Jeremiah which helps us to despair in a way that leads us to want what only you have to offer. As I type these words, I am a bit overcome by His Grace. I could not ask for a better gift today. May you be overcome by His Grace as well.
God’s Grace be rich and deep in your lives. The best is yet to come dear friends.
