The church that digs its own grave
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
A Korean proverb says, ‘I did my own grave.’ It means figuratively saying that I am doing something foolish that ruined myself (Internet). Actually, the people of Judah in Jeremiah 2:13 dug their own graves. They committed a foolish sin that destroyed themselves. God spoke of their own foolish sin of digging their own graves in two ways: (1) They forsook God who is the fountain of living waters, and (2) They hewed for themselves cisterns. In other words, the people of Judah, who dug for themselves cisterns, forsook God and pursued “emptiness” (v. 5) and “after things that did not profit” (vv. 8, 11). The things that didn’t profit were worthless idols. They turned their back to God and their face to their gods which they made for themselves (vv. 27-28). To these apostate and rebellious people of Judah, God said through Prophet Jeremiah: “Your own wickedness will correct you, And your apostasies will reprove you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter For you to forsake the LORD your God, And the dread of Me is not in you," declares the Lord GOD of hosts.” God spoke to the people of Judah who had forsaken God and chose idols that it is evil and bitter that they forsook God and had no dread of Him in them. The people of Judah, who dug their own cisterns, chose their own way of suffering.
I think this is what the church looks alike now. Since there is no fear of God, I think we are seeing the churches forsaking God and following after idols. As a result, the churches are suffering now. There are three sinful aspects of the church that are digging their own cisterns:
First, we the church are not realizing the sins that we are committing.
Look at Jeremiah 2:23 – “How can you say, 'I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you have done! ….” Like the people of Judah who didn’t understand what they had done, we the church are not aware of the sins that we are committing against God and polluting ourselves. The sins of the people of Judah were guilty of spiritual adultery pursuing after their gods “like a swift young camel entangling her ways” (v. 23) and like a “wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That sniffs the wind in her passion” (v. 24). They had forsaken God and followed other gods to satisfy their own greedy desire (3:5). Yet they didn’t know the shame. The reason is because the people of Judah have “a harlot’s forehead’ (v. 3).
I am worried that this is what our church is. We, the church, don’t know shame and are committing shameful sins against God but don’t understand our own sins. The Bible says that we have “a harlot’s forehead” (v. 3). We need to be ashamed. We must be ashamed in serving both God and money. We should be ashamed that we are forsaking God and pursuing money. We must see that there is no fear of God in us. And we must see greed and covetousness in us. We must face our sinful desire for anything other than God. We must realize that this is sinful in the sight of God.
Second, we the church are not accepting chastening of God.
Look at Jeremiah 2:30 – “In vain I have struck your sons; They accepted no chastening Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.” The people of Judah who didn’t realize their sins, refused to accept chastening despite being struck by God. Like the children who were disciplined by their father and still disobedient to their fathers’ words, the people of Judah didn’t return to God but continued to follow other gods even after being disciplined by Heavenly Father. They went around so much changing their way (v. 36). They went to Assyria and also went to Egypt and relied on them (v. 36). Furthermore, the people of Judah killed all the prophets who rebuked their sins, telling them to confess their sins and to repent, and proclaiming to them to return to God (v. 30). Although they were disciplined by God, they had forgotten God days without number (v. 32). Yet they said, “I am innocent; Surely His anger is turned away from me” (v. 35).
I'm worried that this is what our church looks like. Not only do we not realize our sins, but we are not conscious of it, confessing it, and repenting even in the midst of receiving God's discipline of love. Our hearts are very hardened. Now we are guilty of not considering sin as a sin. In the meantime, we are accustomed to sinning habitually against God. And we don’t like and actually hate those who are pointing out our sins by proclaiming the Word of God. We are rejecting them. In the meantime, we are making excuses that we are innocent. And when God is silent after disciplining us with the rod of wrath, we think that God's wrath has left us forever so we boldly commit sin against God. Now we continue to depend on others or matters other than God. Because of this we will not be prosperous (v. 37), but we forsake God and refuse to return to God. We must stop these sinful acts. And we must return to God. We are to go forth with repentance to our Heavenly Father, stretching our hands to God.
Third, we the church is returning to God in deception.
Look at Jeremiah 3:10 – “"Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception," declares the LORD.” The treacherous Judah didn’t fear God but she went and was a harlot (v. 8). She polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees (v. 9). As a woman treacherously departs from her lover, so the people of Judah had dealt treacherously with God (v. 20). Yet they didn’t return to God with their hearts, but rather in deception (v. 10).
I think this is what we the church look like. We seem to return to God by confessing and repenting of our sins at worship meetings and revival meetings, but we are hard at work trying to satisfy our greed by forgetting God and following other things. But our soul can never be satisfied with anything other than God. How long will we pretend to return to God like this? God is telling us to return with all our hearts (vv. 10, 12-14). Therefore, we must return to God with sincere repentance. We must return to God by forsaking things that we suppose to, acknowledging our sins to God, whom we should never forsake (v. 13).
Like the people of Judah who dug their own graves, we thee church are digging our own graves now. We must realize our sins. We must humbly receive God’s chastening. And we must truly return to God as we acknowledge and confess our sins. This is how the church can live.