“Remind the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the terms of my covenant with them. – Jeremiah 11:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 4, 2017): Jeremiah 11

In Richard Paul Evans book Promise Me, he writes “Broken vows are like broken mirrors. They leave those who held to them bleeding and staring at fractured images of themselves.” We are cut and belittled by the promises on which we fail to follow through. Our problem is that promises are never free. At the time we make the promise, they only exist in the future. Often a promise is like a “buy now, pay later” arrangement. We gain something in the short term, even if it is only prestige, pride or relief from guilt, but there is a cost in the long term. And when we don’t follow through, we are the ones that end up being hurt.

Israel had made a promise. In Egypt, they were slaves, without any hope for the future. And so they cried out for help from their God. And God moved. He sent Moses to them to take them out of Egypt. And then on the side of a mountain, he established a covenant with the nation. Promise to follow me, and I will give you the future that you think that you deserve. Israel took God at his word and Joshua led them into the Promised Land

And then, as Joshua was preparing to retire, he challenged the nation again.

Fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord - Joshua 24:14-15.

Israel’s response. “We would never abandon the Lord and serve other gods” – Joshua 24:16. The promise had been made.

Yet, it was just as quickly broken. And so God sends Jeremiah to remind the nation of the covenant that they had made. Because the broken vow had already left Israel cut and fractured – and soon it would leave them exiled and absent in the land that God had given to them.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 12