Looking at other men.

Jeremiah 2

‘Has a nation ever changed their gods? But my people have exchanged their glory for worthless idols’ –Jer. 2:11.  ‘Is Israel a servant or a slave by birth? Why then has he become a plunder?’  vrs 14

God’s people are becoming exploited by the enemy. Their glory, their honour, their blessings, their authority, their dominion is being taken from their hands.

When people plunder, it normally means they are taking the spoils of battle because power has exchanged hands and the weaker party has no choice but to stand and watch as they take the best of their lands and property from them.

In the case of Israel, they were plundered because they gave up on Yahweh God, with whom they had ruled, and took in Baal,  whom they ruled.  Thus Baal plundered them and took every good thing Yahweh gave them.

This happened because Jacob's heart and focus was not on God but on other men Jer 2:23-25

Other men can be:

· Trials we are going through

· Sins we are holding on to

· Addictions we can’t let go

· Anything in our lives that takes our focus off God.

Our hearts may still feel the guilt of betrayal but we will be plundered because we have lost our first love for God. We followed him through the dessert but now we have forgotten him and are looking at other men.

The dessert may be: periods of dryness, conflicts and pain, fear and desperation, uncertainties, to mention but a few.

We have forgotten our husband and are looking at other men.  Let us turn our face to God if we want restoration, not our backs, for it is only when our faces are to him (when our focus is on him again) that when we cry out, he can save us.

Jer. 2:20- remember when ‘those men’ enslaved you; the lord helped you break the yoke from your neck and set you free when he tore the bonds on your hands. Yet now you are looking back at Egypt, you are looking back at Assyria and their men and like a prostitute, you are yearning for more.

The Lord planted us in high places, people (and the enemy) saw God in us and honoured us, the words God placed in our mouths had value and it attracted kings and princes. But now we speak and nobody listens, because we are looking at other men, all other men but our husband.

How much more faithless /unfaithful are we going to be?  But we say ‘I am not defiled, I have not run after the Baals’ vs 23.  We may still say, ‘I am still born again, I call on the name of Jesus and believe him’; but God is saying, look at your life and tell him, who dominates you more, Him or the ‘other men?'

Written by Aba Dadson


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