When God Brings Us Back

Do you ever get nostalgic? I do. I drove by my first apartment today and thought about the person I was 25 years ago. It was so weird to be there. First time in decades. Sometimes life brings you back. But does God do that? 

I know not dwelling on the past is a very Christian thing to do. Paul says, "Forgetting what is behind I press on." But there are moments when nostalgia can be necessary. Such is the case in Jeremiah's ministry. 

Jeremiah 2:1–3 (ESV) The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the LORD.”

What is God doing? He's reminding them of where they began. They were at one time devoted to the Lord. They followed Him and while they did complain, they also kept going. The generation that grew up in the wilderness followed Him into the land of promise. Eventually, they reached a pinnacle of peace under Solomon whose name is a derivative of "Shalom", or peace. How often the pinnacle of life leads to a precipitous fall through pride.

Jeremiah 2:5–7 (ESV) Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? 6 They did not say, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?’ 7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.

Things had drastically changed for Israel. By the time Jeremiah shows up they have abandoned the Lord, they have sought the gods of the nations around them. They have forsaken their Lord. 

God's question pierces the heart. "What did I do wrong?" The answer is nothing but their actions spoke differently. He made them who they were. He brought them to where they arrived. But they turned away. 

Jeremiah 2:11–13 (ESV) Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 13 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.

Ancient nations did not change gods. But Israel had. Even worse, they changed from the true God to the false gods of the world. God announces two evils that this action leads to. First, they forsake the true water; second, they create containers that hold no water. 

One of the great temptations of following the Lord for a long time is to do just what Israel did, to slowly turn away thinking that this world can bring you what only God brings you. The things we seek to replace Him with cannot do what He did or does. This is evil and we are the ones who suffer. 

There's another group of people God beckons to remember their past. Ephesus in Revelation 2. 

Revelation 2:4–5 (ESV) But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Sometimes we need nostalgia. The good kind. The kind that remembers God saved us and made us. God brought us to where we are. We would not be who we are without Him. And in remembering, let us repent and come back to Him again for that is the true purpose of His trip down memory lane in the first place.