In this chapter the Lord instructs Jeremiah to wear a girdle, which was a fabric belt wrapped around a robe, and then to remove it and place it near the Euphrates. After some time Jeremiah retrieves the girdle and it is marred and good for nothing. The Lord uses this as an illustration of what had happened to His people Israel. He had caused His people to cleave to Him as a girdle cleaves to the loins of a man. He had faithfully cared for them from the time He brought them out of Egypt until that day. His desire was that they would have been a people for His praise and glory.

Sadly, the Lord has to state of them, “they would not hear” His voice, and instead were walking “after the imagination of their heart” and even after “other gods to serve and worship them” (Jer. 13:10). As a result they had become like a marred girdle, which is unfit for its intended purpose and good for nothing.

In Acts 11:23, Barnabas exhorted the new believers in Antioch that with purpose of heart they should “cleave unto the Lord” (kjv). It is still the Lord’s desire that His people, now the Church, would cleave to Him, that today we might be for His praise and glory. What does it mean to cleave to Him? It means to hear and obey His voice through His word; to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), occupied with Christ, and not after the imagination of our own hearts; and to keep ourselves from idols—anything that would displace Christ in our hearts (1 Jn. 5:21). Christendom has largely followed Israel’s example and become like a “marred girdle.” May the Lord give grace that with purpose of heart we might cleave to Him and be for His praise and glory until He comes.