This devotional first appeared in https://www.islandsadventist.org
Scripture: A bride could not forget to wear her jewelry to her wedding, but you have forgotten me day after day. Jeremiah 2:32 (CEV)
Observation: Oriental women greatly pride themselves on their ornaments (compare Is 61:10).
forgotten me — (Je 13:25; Ho 8:14). To the question posed by Jeremiah, a “no” answer is expected. It would have been equally unnatural for God to forget Israel. But Judah had done worse than forget the outward memorials of marriage. . . she had forgotten her Husband (see ch. 3:14).
Application: As we read today’s text we are presented with a most preposterous situation. On her wedding day, probably the most important and memorable day of her life, the bride is careful to have everything just right. Recently the news reported an event that shows how important this day is for the bride. On the day of her wedding, a bride called 911 to report that her car, with her wedding gown inside, had been stolen. As the news played the 911 tape one could hear the anguish and pain in the bride’s voice. Interestingly enough, the dispatcher asked what her size was and it was exactly the same as the dispatcher’s. Immediately the dispatcher offered to lend the bride her own wedding gown, took it to the place where she was getting ready for her wedding, and was able to wear it on her special day.
It would be preposterous to think that the bride, who would have her wedding gown ready, and who would make sure her hair and makeup would be just right, would forget her husband to be. Some brides have that inner fear, small as it may be, that the groom would suddenly change his mind and not show up for the wedding. Some brides have indeed gone through that experience. But how many brides have done everything in their power to be ready for their wedding except have a husband?
What Jeremiah portrays is our situation when we leave God our of our life, out of our marriage, or out of our family life. It is preposterous! And yet, many have done just that to the detriment of their own lives, and marriages, and families. We go about our lives as if God doesn’t even exist. We work, get a paycheck, spend it, buy things, travel, attend entertainment events, and in general terms live our lives as if God had not made it possible for us to have life, and work, and money. And then they find themselves one day not liking, much less loving, the person they married and the family they have formed and believe that the solution is leaving to start all over again with someone else. If the research is correct, second marriages last less than first marriages, third marriages less than second marriages and so on. And it is at the end of a series of relationships that they find themselves empty and alone. Some, thankfully, look to God for help before it is too late. Others, sadly, simply continue on that downward spiral until they die, many at their own hands.
What God invites us to do, through Jeremiah and other Bible writers, is to turn to God before it is too late. Begin by praying for and with your spouse. Pray for God’s guidance and blessings, for a resurgence of love, for the power to forgive, for the ability to make positive changes, for patience, for wisdom, for the ability to see the best in the other, for God to change us from the inside out. Turn to God before it is too late for your marriage and for your family.
A Prayer You May Say: Father God, help us to turn to You with all our hearts and not forget You. Bless our life and marriage by being at the center of all we are and all we do.
Used by permission of Adventist Family Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
