The Essence of Sin

" for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water."

"They have made offerings to other gods and worshipped the works of their own hands."

"What wrong did your fathers find in me
that they went far away from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless."

Here we see something that is difficult to understand. The moment you walk away from God, is the moment you walk into something else less than God. This is the essence of Sin. Rebellion. Pride. Selfishness.

Most of us don't think of us literally or even spiritually "forsaking or running away" from God. But in the essence of sin , that is exactly what we are doing / choosing. Its a choice

"Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, 'I have not sinned'."

"Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts."

"Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God, when he led you in the way? And now what do you GAIN by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?"