In Jeremiah 2:30–31, the prophet describes two kinds of people. There are the “ravenous lions” who devour God’s messengers and spread their disease, and there are those whom God still addresses with tender reasoning. He pleads, “And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘We are free, we will come no more to you’?” Craigie observes that the Lord who guided Israel through the wilderness and darkness is now treated as though He were a barren wasteland offering no help or light. The people who once depended on Him for daily bread and direction now imagine themselves independent. In arrogant self-sufficiency, they think they can do without God and treat Him not as the great provider but as though He were a deserted desert with no resources. It is a tragic reversal. The God who supplied water from the rock is now accused of being a dry and empty land.
This ancient story feels familiar. Prosperity can quietly replace dependence. Religion itself can become a comfortable substitute for a living relationship with God. Max Lucado writes, “If good works save us, we do not need God—weekly reminders of the dos and do nots will get us to heaven. If we are saved by suffering, we certainly do not need God. All we need is a whip, chain, and the gospel of guilt. If we are saved by doctrine, let us study for heaven’s sake. We do not need God; we need a lexicon.” It is surprisingly easy to rest confidence in activity, knowledge, or even church attendance while quietly assuming we can manage life on our own. Our calendars fill, our plans succeed, and before long we act as though we personally keep the planets in orbit. That illusion usually lasts until the car will not start, the doctor calls, or the grandchild asks a question we cannot answer.
The New Testament gently pulls our eyes back to the source of every blessing. James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Paul reminds us, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Cecil Sherman reflects on the American experience, asking whether prosperity comes from clever industry or from God’s storehouse of bounty. Jesus Himself said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Yet this same Christ welcomes those who have wandered into self-sufficiency. He is not a wilderness or a land of darkness but “the light of the world” (John 8:12), patiently reasoning with a generation that sometimes forgets who led them through the desert.