March 8th, Don’t Look Elsewhere
“In the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel."
Jeremiah 3:23
This is indeed our song, even as it was for Israel of old: God is our salvation. The prophet announced that God is indeed the author of salvation for His people. This announcement foreshadows the truth of Acts 4:12, ‘there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Only Jesus.”
When looking at the complete message of Jeremiah 3:23, we understand the sad truth that although salvation is in no one else, Israel most certainly looked elsewhere. And, what a disastrous decision this became for God’s people.
“Surely the hills are a deception, a tumult on the mountain. Surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.”
Jeremiah expressed Israel’s reality of having strayed to other god’s. The reference to the tumult on the mountains may signify pagan worship, perhaps even a celebration with pagan alters and the ceremonies surrounding false deities. (This indeed strikes a noted similarity to the vain worship of Baal recorded in I Kings 18.) The reference to the mountain may also suggest an endeared reliance on any other external power for safety like neighboring kings and their armies, or even the physical structure of the mountain itself. But, regardless of the distraction from faith in Jehovah, the dependence upon anything but God for salvation is absolutely and undeniably in vain. The people of God understood then what many understand today: running after false affections and substitutes to God will always prove a disastrous dead-end.
The reference of salvation always expressed to Israel God’s love, His covenant, and His fatherly rule and reign over the lives of His children. What a glorious relationship! Yet, in vain Israel fell into the temptation to run after the gods of neighboring nations. In vain, Israel substituted lifeless idols for God. They looked to physical expressions of safety like the mountains more than they looked to God. Each time Israel ran after something other than God, the result was always the same: emptiness and disaster.
“The mountains are deceptive,” proclaimed the prophet. The things around us will deceive us and cause us to vainly taste the things of this world. But they are indeed deceptive, for nothing in this world will ever deliver what God has promised. Nothing!
So today, allow God to probe your heart. Upon what have you been depending for the fulfillment and pleasure of your heart? To what or to whom are you running to find the fulfillment that truly can only be found in God’s covenant love for you through Jesus? Whatever “the tumult on the hills” represents in your life (the commotion of seeking after other things), remember the prophet’s one simple truth: they are deception (the Hebrew terminology expresses that which is a disappointment or a falsehood).
Trust God and not the things in this life that fade. Trust Him. He alone is the fulfillment of your soul. He alone is your salvation. Today, regardless of how well you think you may be doing in your faith, look more intently to Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:2).
Blessings.
