Jeremiah 2:23-25. God says to his people "How can you say 'I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba'als?'" Just look at what you have done and how you act! You are like a camel or a wild ass in heat - sniffing the wind for a mate. No one who wants you needs to weary themselves, you are very easy to get. You have clothes and water and are well cared for by God, yet you continually seek after strange gods.

Honestly, it often takes so much to wake us up to our sin! Like an alcoholic who does not admit she has a problem, we cannot even begin to get better until we see all of the wrong we have done and are doing. I totally understand God's exasperation here. I know that I have done this myself, it took a lot before I realized that I was pursuing many of the wrong things in life, and that the only thing worth pursuing was God.

Lately, I have felt this exasperation with other people who are continuously hurting me and others by clinging to certain "idols" like politics, the lies of our age, personal health, or many other things. When confronted with how they are hurting people, they seem so innocent - they truly believe that they have done nothing wrong! They just cannot see yet that they are clinging to idols and it is causing them to sin. It is very exasperating and is the cause of so much pain and discord right now.

A recent dream I had when struggling with this gave me the very clear message that I am to continue to love these people but stop letting them hurt me. I have to love them, but cut the strings that bind us together, since we are being pulled in opposite directions and the strings are now cutting into our flesh causing both of us great pain. In the dream, an angel cut one string for me and I immediately rose up above the world. I looked down and saw everyone arguing and fighting and grasping at other things and people, and I realized that I can't help them, it is not my place to try. They need to look up and see God and his love and his hope.

He let me suffer in my oblivious sinfulness and my grasping until I reached the point where I had to look up, there was nowhere else to look. He will do the same for each of his children, just like he did for Israel.