Why do we stray?

I was reading the call of Jeremiah just now and its words jump off the page. What an honor it must have been to have the Creator of the universe say such powerful words spoken directly to you. But then I realized that if God said these things to Jeremiah then He's saying the same great things to you and I just in our own context of qualities He's equipped us with. "But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you" (Jeremiah 1:17-19). Such powerful words spoken to you and I. It says "Be ready for each day- make it count. Do what God says, stay true to the Bible. Don't be afraid of man because God is definitely greater" God's saying, "Hey, I'm making you solid, a person with great stability that can withstand ANYTHING. I'm making you someone trustworthy and refined. Someone prepared and fearless. Trust me." It's such a great promise that God makes here in the first chapter of Jeremiah.

The part that struck me just now and considering the promise we just talked about is this: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?...Has a nation changed its gods, even though there are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit (2:5,11). I realized that there in lies the problem: when we stray from God it's because we changed our god, we've exchanged our glory for something else. Our new god and glory could be wealth, getting what we want, temporary happiness in friends or being noticed, beauty, things, love, comfort or whatever else. We've changed our gods. It's not that God is far off, it's not even that something is wrong with our relationship with God; it's that something is wrong with our relationship with other things, other people that we are confusing to be our glory and our joy. If your life is unstable or unhappy- even if for a moment- make sure your priority, your God and your glory are set on Jesus. He's not going anywhere, only you are.

I see a lot of the people around me doing this and if you do too then here is Heaven's answer: "Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate" (2:12). Don't be ok with it, DON'T not saying anything. Don't get used to complacency, it's eating away at our culture. Don't be the one that feeds the virus. It's the small things in life that when let slide can hurt us worse than we know and before we realize it we've exchanged our glory and the people that love us have let us. Don't be ok with that.