I was reading through Jeremiah again today, as I am studying that book right now. The entire first section of the book is dealing with Israel and Judah’s turning away from God towards false gods, stone and wood…they choose to worship the created over the creator. To put it lightly, God is furious with them, and He uses all kinds of analogies to describe Israel and Judah in their sin.
This verse stood out to me today: Jeremiah 5:21-23
Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear. Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the Lord, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set. But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and abandoned me.
If I look at my own life I have to wonder how many times I take my eyes off of God and put them on something else? God tells me I am foolish for doing so! He declares how Big and Powerful He is in this verse, “…I, the Lord, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries that I set.” God is saying, “look I control the oceans!” Maybe Christians should go take a field trip to the beach and see who can stop the waves and who can control how far they come ashore. We cannot do it, yet everyday Christians and the church take our eyes off of God and we put them on things that God created versus on Him, the One that created all things, or we put them on ourselves as if we can control our life and what takes place around us.
I wonder how many of us are like Israel and Judah? Does God look at us and say, “Oh people with eyes who cannot see and ears that cannot hear?” Maybe today you should take a minute to examine what you are looking at…is it everything except God? Or is your focus on the one that controls the oceans?