Jeremiah 13 Devotional

Made to Cling to Him

“For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I have made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, declares the LORD, so that they might be My people for My renown and praise and glory. But they did not listen.”Jeremiah 13:11 (BSB)

God has Jeremiah wear a linen undergarment, then hide it in the rocks at Perath. Many days later he digs it up, ruined and useless (13:1-7). God explains that just as the garment clung to a waist, he bound Israel and Judah closely to himself, so that they would be his people and bring him honor and praise (13:11). But they would not listen, and pride has spoiled them.

The chapter compares their ingrained sin to a leopard's spots (13:23). People trained in evil cannot simply decide to do good, and the prophet says he will weep in secret over their pride (13:17). Their closeness to God was his gift in the first place, and any hope of restoration has to come from him as well. Paul says that God, out of great love and mercy, brought people who were dead in sin to life together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5). The closeness you were made for is something only God can restore, and he does.

To think about: Where have you been trying to fix yourself by effort alone, and what would it mean to ask God to draw you close again?