Editor's note: Written during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysian marketplace writer Ivan Tan’s maiden book “What If You Could Complete Jeremiah in 8 Weeks?” goes through the whole book of Jeremiah one chapter at a time. Below is Day 2 for Week 1 (see Day 1 for Week 1):
Forget Not God, Forget Not We’re Choice Vines
Jeremiah 2
21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock.
Whenever we have reached the high and comfortable places in life, we must reflect every now and then about the journey that has brought us there. Why? Because some of us who have experienced near-death experiences will come to know that the Lord was the one who has miraculously rescued us.
We will also come to remember that during a time when life was terrible and difficult, we will more often than not recall the good times of the past. When we do that, some of us won’t be able to avoid asking ourselves what we’ve done to lead us this far into the current predicament.
What have we done that brought us to our knees this time? Have we for one second reflected on how far we’ve drifted away from the one who created us?
In Jeremiah 2, God spoke to those in Israel via prophet Jeremiah about their neglect towards God and how they had constructed their own gods made out of woods, stones and other fancy materials which they considered more worthy than the real God. They had all but forgotten about how the Lord had led them out of captivity, traversing the wilderness both in the day and through the night without sufficient resources to even feed themselves. But amazingly, all those who were destined to follow had remained alive until they reached the Promised Land - a place that was far more distinct and abundant than the narrow paths they endured to get there.
5 This is what the Lord says:
“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
and became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness,
a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7 I brought you into a fertile land
to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But we human beings are often built with a very short memory, and perhaps even more frightening these days is the shrinking attention span. For example, global important news pieces are no longer as informative because media houses struggle to capture the attention of those suffering from “goldfish memory”. How then are we to remember the works that God has done for us or the miraculous healings He has performed?
We’ve all forgotten the embarrassing days of our lacking, the tiresome periods of modern enslavement and the incredible stress that no iron can withstand. We’ve simply forgotten how He carried us over from the extremely thin ice we used to walk on and how He paved the next sturdy platform for us to slide, run and jump on.
Hence we must not forget that when we are rewarded for our efforts, it was given to us, first, with His permission. We must also remember that when we have suffered enough and seen a brighter light the next day, it was God who enabled it to happen.
In another instance, if we’ve been lonely and then found a companion, let us not fool ourselves by thinking it was Tinder, Facebook, Instagram or any other app that brought us there because before all these could tinkle with incoming notifications, God would have already given us the nod first at His own divine time and space.
Ladies and gentlemen, if we’re ever going to find ourselves in trouble again due to our wayward ways, let us always remember that God had from the very beginning already made us into the best of the vines, so that good things can always flow into our lives, not just some wild twigs and branches we often bend ourselves to be.
21 I had planted you like a choice vine
of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
into a corrupt, wild vine?
I pray that you’ll remember our God Almighty whether you are living in the best of the exciting times on the planet or enduring the most undeniable trauma that you’re facing right now in your life. God loves us all and He wants us to prosper and smile. Let us remember that and in so doing, we will always remain steadfast, standing tall and prized always like the best of the vines He has created us to be, in our wonderful God’s name of Jesus, Amen!
(The book is available in paperback and e-book format on Amazon.)
To be continued...
