Everyone Believes

“For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! [Jeremiah 2.13]

All of today's OYCB reading involved God's people abandoning Him and turning to other gods. According the Jeremiah, these are two separate evil things. The two distinct actions called "evil things" involved faith - what the people trusted in.

First, abandoning God is a suppression of faith in God as God (the fountain of living water). Many people today are content, not to worship idols or necessarily live a "bad life," but they just don't want to give their all to serve and worship God. These are those who "abandoned" God.

The second "evil thing" involves another facet of sin in that it actually pursues the oversight of (or trust in) a god other than the LORD God.

Faith is one of many human characteristics but it IS a distinct human characteristic. Faith cannot be denied or ignored any more than a human can deny or ignore his or her need for water. Because God put a measure of faith in every human being, the two things mentioned above are the practical result of one common problem. What I am saying is that the faith God put in man is going to believe in something! It may be God and it may not be God, but humans are going to believe something. I am convinced this is so because God refers to Himself as "the fountain of living water..." 

The one thing every human needs, regardless of class or culture, is water. Even if a person chooses not to "believe in God," they cannot simply "believe in nothing" because the faith installed in them by God as a human simply will not allow it. Like the basic necessity of consuming water, so every human believes in something. Faith will not be denied.

To reject faith in God is to embrace faith in something else. In fact, humans believe in all kinds of things that they may or may not realize they are "trusting in." This is so prevalent today that even in situations where the LORD is not sought or pursued in any way, they will have the word "Believe" on display (Christmas parades come to mind as an example).

Likewise, people who say they believe in nothing still believe and trust all kinds of things: They believe a chair will hold them up. They believe the sun will rise in the east and track to settle in the west every day. They believe a device to tell them what time it is. They believe rain will get them wet and that fire will burn them. NO ONE can (say they) believe in nothing! It simply is not possible because, again, God installed faith in every human. Whether their basis for belief is because the Bible declared something to be so, or because they experienced something to be so for themselves, they believe.

What God requires is that His followers believe in Him alone. In other words, even though we may understand the path of the earth through the solar system, we still acknowledge God is ultimate reason the path is followed and prioritize our faith in Him above even our understanding of science (the Bible indicates that even the earth's path through the solar system is under His complete control and command).

So, while Jeremiah says there are two things the people had done, there was one thing that started it and another thing that happened as the result. To NOT trust in God requires that we trust in something else. Just like everyone has to drink water, everyone has to believe. Being human requires it. Faith is part of human design (whether one believes God gave it or not).

Everyone believes. It's just what one believes in that makes the difference.

Father, help me to understand that I am "believing" all day long every day. Help me also to understand my need to decidedly believe IN YOU as a commitment. Help me to see that You even made this easier by the Advent of Jesus Christ and the Biblical record of His life and purpose to that end.