Have you Forgotten?

Read Jeremiah 2.

God called Jeremiah to be His spokesperson.  Next, He began to give this new prophet the messages to deliver on His behalf.

At the end of Genesis, the descendants of Abraham were still a family.  It is in Exodus that the Jews developed into a nation of people.  Their freedom from slavery is consistently looked back upon as a starting point in their national relationship with the LORD.  What characterized them in those early days?  Israel may have forgotten, but God remembered very well and said so in verses 2-3.
1. Your devotion.
In Hebrew the word is "kindness" and refers to how they responded to God.  He had rescued them from the intolerable bondage of Egypt.  He had demonstrated His power for them time after time.  How could they not be fully devoted to Him?

2. Your love.
They had intense, emotional affection for the LORD.  The comparison is those feelings a bride has for her groom.  She cannot wait to be with the object of her love.

3. Your following me.
Like a couple in love walking everywhere together is how God viewed their early days of relationship.  They willingly followed Him wherever He directed.  He led them through the Red Sea and into a wilderness with no resources.  Yet, He supplied all their needs.

4. Your holiness.
Just as the first part of the harvest was to be treated as sacred and given to the LORD in appreciation, so Israel was set apart to Himself.  They were not to be like everyone else.  They were His people and were to represent Him faithfully to an unbelieving world.

What happened?  That is God's question in this chapter.  The answer is they forgot.  They took Him for granted.  Instead of remembering that He is the Creator, they became evolutionists and believed they originated from other sources (v.17).  They worshiped things of their own invention.  They "went after worthlessness, and became worthless" (v.5b).

In Revelation 2:4, Jesus called out the church at Ephesus for having "abandoned the love you had at first."  It is good for us to intentionally and regularly remember how God delivered us, saved us, forgave us, and how we promised our lives to follow Christ at the beginning.  Every day can be/should be a renewal of our love and devotion to Jesus.