Bound to God

‘For as a belt is bound around a man’s waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor.’

Jeremiah 13:11

I am so thankful that God called Jeremiah and not me to be His voice to His people. Jeremiah, at God’s behest, preached gloom and doom to the people of Israel and Judah because of their sin and rebellion. The passage above is but one of the tragic portrayals God used to convict His people. God told Jeremiah to purchase a linen belt, and to wear it around the waist. I picture a beautifully embroidered piece of art-clothing that was expensive and treasured, though Scripture does not describe it. Jeremiah obeyed and God gave him later instructions to take the belt and hide it in the crevice of a rock at Perath, near the Euphrates River. A long time later (Jeremiah 13:6, CBS), God told Jeremiah to go back to Perath and dig up the linen belt. As expected, the belt was ruined and completely useless (Jeremiah 13:7), its beauty deteriorated, and its purpose destroyed.

God used this real-life portrayal to illustrate the wasted loveliness and design of His covenant people. He created them to show His renown and praise and honor by their beauty and purpose, to be bound to Him in a covenant relationship. Instead, they refused to listen to His words, and in their own stubbornness, they served and worshipped other gods. I can hear God’s heartbreak as He says “But they have not listened” (Jeremiah 13:11).

I want to be bound to Christ, to be a woman whose quiet beauty and strength show the world the glory of my Savior. I want my obedience to honor Him and my lived-out usefulness to be a fragrant offering of praise. How often do I live in stubbornness myself, and refuse to listen to His chastening Word and so mar may own beauty and purpose?

Lord, give me a heart wholly yours.

Jill Hardin