Are You Horrified?

[The following is an excerpt from the upcoming FMU Success Prep Study Guide, TOP10 Marriage Tips for Smart Singles: Part 1]

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Jeremiah 2:12-13 (ESV)

Why do we forsake God? Do you really believe he is a fountain of living waters?

What cisterns have you hewn out for yourself in the past only to find them unable to hold water?

What broken cistern are you tempted to keep going back to now?

Jeremiah says, “Be appalled; be shocked; be utterly desolate.” The NIV interprets it this way: “Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror." Do you really see this whole affair of trying to take care of yourself, instead of going to God, as being that big a deal? Are you “horrified” by it? Why or why not?

Perhaps we don’t see the “horror” of forsaking God and turning to other means of life, because we don’t have the foggiest idea of the kind of life God wants to give us. We’ve truly been duped into believing that whiter teeth will give us life; or a nicer car or bigger house; or trophy spouse that worships the ground we walk on.

If we could see ourselves from God’s point of view – needy, lost and hopeless without him, but full of promise and supernatural potential when we turn to him alone – perhaps then we could comprehend what we give up when we forsake him.

MJ

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