God moved Jeremiah to speak to His people about their sins, using the familiar visuals of love and marriage to reveal their spiritual infidelity. Israel is portrayed as the Lord’s bride, yet an unfaithful one who has forgotten her covenant partner. In Jeremiah 2:32, God asks, “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” Willis comments, “He should have been treated as most precious, guarded and cherished like a woman’s wedding trousseau; yet she has treated him like some cheap trinket, placed in the back of some drawer and forgotten.” The image is both tender and piercing. The covenant God, who should have been treasured above all, had been pushed into the dark recesses of Israel’s memory. Even the law of the Lord had been neglected, lying forgotten in the temple cellars until discovered during Josiah’s reign. That rediscovery sparked revival, yet, as history often records, such awakenings faded. The phrase “days without number” may be rendered “over and over,” revealing a pattern of revival followed by forgetfulness. Craigie observes, “That love should have been lasting, the perpetual hallmark of the covenant relationship. Yet it had been a fleeting emotion, soon forgotten; love and commitment had been replaced by arrogance and an overweening sense of self-sufficiency. Such was Israel’s rebellion.” Still, God’s love remained undiminished.
The pattern feels uncomfortably familiar. It is possible to treasure God deeply during seasons of need and then quietly set Him aside when life stabilizes. We keep our schedules, polish our routines, and sometimes treat our faith like formal attire worn only for special occasions. The tendency to misplace what matters most does not always require deliberate rebellion. Sometimes it happens gradually, like misplacing reading glasses that were on our heads all along. The heart can grow comfortable with religious structure while drifting from the living presence of God. History shows that every revival risks fading into routine when gratitude gives way to self-sufficiency.
The New Testament reveals that God’s covenant love finds its fullest expression in Jesus Christ. Paul describes Christ’s love for the church in marital terms: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). Even when His people wander, He remains faithful, for “if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). The parable of the prodigal son portrays a Father who waits and welcomes rather than rejects (Luke 15:20). Like Hosea pursuing Gomer, God’s actions aim at restoration rather than retribution. Love, not revenge, is the driving force in this divine pursuit, revealed fully in the One who came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).