Jeremiah was not an
eloquent speaker nor was he a great preacher when God first chose him. God did
not choose him because he was intelligent or
mighty in any way. But Jeremiah was a man that
trusted God in all matters, Jer. 10:23. He would not have been
the man for the job, had God been seeking a superstar. For God wanted someone
who was teachable, who was moldable to His will and was willing to be devoted
to the task that God would require of him. That was the man Jeremiah and because
of that trust, he took
an unwanted message to a people that was rebellious and backslidden from the
God they claimed to know. Because of that message, Jeremiah faced peril upon
peril as he was mocked by his own people, Jer.
20:7, he faced death in verse 26, he was beaten and
put in jail in 20:2 and again in 37:15, and was
accused of derision in 38:4 and wanted him put to death because of it, those are only to name a few. The people of
Jeremiah's time believed that they were invincible
and somehow, had a free ticket with God because they were Jews. Most had
no moral sense of faith, they thought that it was enough to only perform strict ceremonial acts as part of God's Law
and attend temple. Their religion was external, material, and
ceremonial. While Israel's spiritual status was bathed in a false security, Jeremiah knew the truth. To
Jeremiah, righteousness started internally, it was
spiritual, and based upon a personal relationship with God. Israel had become
spiritually rotten to the core and God assigned Jeremiah the task of telling them so.
Jeremiah's prayer life was the source of his strength
that enabled him to keep preaching the truth in the
face of fierce opposition from the very ones that he was trying to reach with
the message God had given him to share. To face the fire of people's
anger and the icy cold shoulders of their
rejection. Clinging to the Lord, even the hardest of times, allowed God to create
perseverance in Jeremiah. Jeremiah's prayers and perseverance indicate an
undying love for his fellow brothers, of which was never understood by his contemporaries.
What made Jeremiah a great preacher was his
prayer life, his
tenacity and perseverance, and his burden for
those whom he was called to go to. Although
Jeremiah was often treated unjustly by those about him, the consequence of sin
on his fellow countrymen led him to pray fervently many times on their behalf.
Chapter fourteen is devoted totally to his intercession on their behalf as he
confessed sins and begged God for mercy on them.
Jeremiah developed a close personal relationship with God from the
very beginning. He had such a dependency upon God that he never concealed any
thought from Him. His first recorded words to God were, "I do not know how
to speak, because I am a youth" 1:6. Jeremiah had thought he had
limitations at first. But God proved to him that it was not his ability that
God sought, but his obedience. While Jeremiah had praises for God, as found in
17:4 and other places throughout his writings, he was not always filled with
praises. Oftentimes he complained. When a plot was revealed that some men
planned to take his life, he went to God and asked, "Why does this happen?
How can You let it happen?" in chapter 12. While Jeremiah was devoted to
the welfare of his friends, family and countrymen, he had a burning desire
according to chapter 20:8b-9 into telling them the painful truth about
themselves, causing them to lash out at him. He complained, "I have not
done anything to anyone, yet everyone curses me. Woe is me!" in chapter
15:10. The apparent frustrations over his fellow countrymen led Jeremiah to
pray to God for justice in return for the injustice he had received. Some of
his prayers contained hurls of imprecations concerning how he was treated, that
give the readers a special insight into the extreme frustration and mental
anguish he endured. From praises to curses, Jeremiah held nothing from the
Lord, and the Lord sustained and strengthened him. When He felt God's awe and
wonder, he praised Him. When he was persecuted and suffering, Jeremiah reminded
God of his own faithfulness and asked for justice. Whether it was praise,
complaint, or a call for judgment, Jeremiah's open and honest prayer life
reveals the inward struggles that he endured with God’s help on a daily basis.
Unless Jeremiah had worked to sustain his relationship with God through prayer,
he would have never persevered. Like Jeremiah, may our hearts prayer be to have
and contain the burden for others that God may be placing on our hearts or some
other task and that we may be able to say, “So the word of the LORD has brought
me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut
up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. Jer. 20:8b-9
The book of Jeremiah was the final prophecies that God sent to His
precious Judah, a wayward and rebellious children. He told the prophet Jeremiah
to go and take warning of the oncoming destruction, if the nation did not turn
and repent. Jeremiah called out for God’s people to turn back to Him, as he
recognized the inevitability of Judah’s destruction, due to their unrepentant
idolatry and immoral hearts. Their hearts had become so hard against the truth,
that they refused to neither recognize, nor see the warnings as real and
forthcoming. Instead, they lay blame on Jeremiah…it was just easier that way,
for his message fell on deaf ears and it was unwanted. As Jeremiah sought to do
the right thing, it seemed as though no one was happy with him. When he rebuked
Judah, they thought of him as a trouble maker, one who provoked dispute and
caused conflict within the land and the people. He felt condemned if he did
tell the people the truth and he felt condemned if he didn’t. I have felt that
way myself, many times and can assure you that as you walk with God, you too
will find the same discouragement as did Jeremiah; as it often goes with the
call of being used of God and can often times leave you feeling despondent and
pitted against the very ones that you are trying to help. The Lord responded to
Jeremiah’s discouragement assuring him that he would care for him in those
times of loneliness, misunderstandings and isolation from those that were
cursing him for what he was doing. God told Jeremiah that He would rescue and
deliver His people from their sin, redeeming them and liberating them from
their bondage if they would simply, turn back to Him. While like Jeremiah, you
too may face those spiritual dry patches where no matter how much you serve,
how much you give and how much you do, you sometimes will succumb to
discouragement, and like Jeremiah felt, you too may wonder why it is, that the
very ones that you are trying to reach with truth appear to be an enemy, having
no problems with how they are living or what they are doing. You must remember
one thing….your job is not to bring the change, but simply to bring the
message, seasoned in love and humility. We are servants of the Most High, and
it is our job to speak the truth in love, and moreover, not to grow weary in
our doing so. There have been saints and scoundrels all through history. The
saints have understood some important things about what God’s Word teaches us
and how we are to live if we are children of God. Scoundrels never seem to
grasp those truths and laugh and mock at them, as though they were silly
fables. If we know what to do in certain situations; then those truths can
motivate us to resist the temptations that threaten to lure us off the high
road and succumb to the low one.
Hold Fast,
Bren
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