Daily Devotional For Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Good morning Southside! Thank you for taking the time to join us today. Our daily devotional this morning comes from Jeremiah 2:1-6:
“The LORD gave me another message. He said, (2) “Go and shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the LORD says: ‘I remember how eager you were to please Me as a young bride long ago, how you loved Me and followed Me even through the barren wilderness. (3) In those days Israel was holy to the LORD, the first of His children. All who harmed His people were declared guilty, and disaster fell on them. I, the LORD, have spoken!” (4) Listen to the word of the LORD, people of Jacob—all you families of Israel! (5) This is what the LORD says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with Me that led them to stray so far from Me? They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves. (6) They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us safely out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness—a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and death, where no one lives or even travels?” (NLT).
What a sad commentary on Israel and in some ways on us also. When we read this it is sad because God, who had established a covenant with Abraham and David, was ending His covenant with them. Israel was not only idolatrous, but guilty of spiritual adultery. If this had been a honeymoon, this marriage was now over. Yes, even the Lord has a limit. If you do not think that, remember the flood? Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? Remember Annas and Sapphira? Remember the Cross?
Jeremiah 2 reads like a trial and God is on the witness stand testifying against Israel. Like a newlywed, Israel once had a loving and faithful relationship to God. Israel was so in love with the Lord, she would do anything for God. Now due to her infidelity, the covenant is severed. God was faithful to keep His part, but it was Israel that consistently and repeatedly failed her part of the covenant.
This passage in Jeremiah reminds of the number of people I have known through the years who came to Christ, were on fire for the Lord, involved in His church and serving. And then suddenly, they walked away after all God had done for them. Whatever their excuse was and is, they found something wrong with the Lord. And in the end, like Israel, worshipped other worthless idols and became worthless themselves. Old Testament scholar Phillip Ryken writes this:
“Christians sometimes get the idea that being faithful to God’s covenant is simply a matter of obeying God’s Law. This is because we are legalists at heart. But God never intended our relationship with him to be mere obedience of the will. God wants our hearts as well as our wills. Redemption is a romance” (Source: Phillip G. Ryken, Preach The Word, “Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow To Hope, p. 38).
The proof of Israel’s love for the Lord was they followed the Lord. The proof of our love for the Lord is that we follow Him. Initially, Israel was a loving wife and the Lord was a loving husband. Years later God was still the loving husband but Israel was a prostituting adulterer. In our passage, we see how God both protected and provided for His bride.That was then but this is now. It is not that God is dumping His people; it is His people who have dumped God. It is not Israel who has been wronged; it is God who has been wronged. The spiritual marriage between God and His people was dying due to neglect by Israel, not the Lord.
Reflection Assignment: How is your end of your covenant with the Lord? Is your excitement and enthusiasm for the Lord as intense today as it was when you came to Christ? What other gods have you filled your life with instead of God Almighty? If it has dwindled, what do you need to do to rekindle it?
Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 15:8, “Jesus said, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please forgive me that my excitement and enthusiasm for you today is not what it was initially. That is not Your fault, but mine. I want to do what you instructed the church at Ephesus in the Book of Revelation in Revelation 2:4-5a. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside – Pastor Kelly