Jeremiah - Part 1

Jeremiah was appointed by God to be a prophet.  He wrote his prophesies, prayers & discussions with God, all between 626 B.C. & 586 B.C., after the time of Isaiah, which are recorded in the Bible Book bearing his name.  Jeremiah, his name means “exaltation of the Lord”.  Ironically, Jeremiah didn’t have much to exalt the Lord about.  His prophesies were dark, about the fall of Israel, God’s wrath, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the exile to Babylon.  Jeremiah knew he was chosen by God to deliver this message.  He did speak the word of the Lord even though he had threats on his life and would frequently be beaten for the message.  After one such beating, by a priest no less, Jeremiah poured out his heart to God in one of the most beautiful, gut wrenching prayers, I’ve ever read. 

Jeremiah 20: 7-18  “O LORD, you deceived (persuaded) me, and I was deceived (persuaded); you overpowered me and prevailed.  I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.  Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction.  So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.  But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more 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.  I hear many whispering, ‘Terror on every side!  Report him!  Let’s report him!’  All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, ‘Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.’  But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.  They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.  O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.  Sing to the LORD!  Give praise to the LORD!  He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.  Cursed be the day I was born!  May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!  Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, ‘A child is born to you – a son!’  May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity.  May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.  For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.  Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?”

I am struck that Jeremiah could pour out his heart like that; praise God, yet wish himself dead.  Isn’t that like many of us?  The Bible has example after example of people, just like us, who struggle and don’t understand all that God is up to.  In Chapter 15, Jeremiah refers to a wound that God would not heal.  God is so tender in His response to Jeremiah:  “’for I am with you to rescue and save you,’ declares the LORD.  ‘I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.’”  (Jeremiah 16:20b-21)  Paul, if you recall, also had a wound, “a thorn in the flesh”.  Paul also asked God to take it away.  Both cases, God didn’t.  He only reassured.  Both Jeremiah and Paul held onto the reassurance. 

2^nd Corinthians 12:7-10    “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Lamentations 3:19-26      “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:  Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

While spending time with the Lord in study over last weekend, I asked God what Jeremiah’s wound was:  was it physical, was it depression?  I really would like to know, but God said I didn’t need to know everything.  Ouch…I digress.  All I need to know is how God took the wounds, took the pain, brought it to Himself and nailed it to the cross of Christ.  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.  Jeremiah was just like us.  He had hurts, his heart broke, he was wounded, depressed, hated his life, yet he held on to God with all he had.  God took care of Jeremiah no matter his circumstances, just as He does us.  Jeremiah was obedient even during times of great distress.  He chose to seek God and rejoice in Him.  “For in him we live and move and have our being.”  (Acts 17:28a)  Isn’t that really what this crazy life is about, our relationship with God?  I think obedience comes as we get to know God.  Once we are in right relationship with God, we will want to be obedient, we will want to listen to Him, seek Him, and find ourselves secure in Him.  He alone is the only One who can heal our hurts, our wounds, and our broken hearts.  (Isaiah 60:1-3)  It first starts with responding to His love.  He poured out His life for us at Calvary.  It amazes me that God loves me so much, He gave up His own Son (John 3:16).  I can tell you first hand, I didn’t deserve it at all.  In turn, all God wants from me is to love Him back.  It’s astounding, really.  Someone told me not that long ago that she viewed my life as boring.  Let me tell you it is anything but boring.  God has filled my life with love, laughter, beauty, sweetness, tenderness, learning, knowledge, and truth, just to name a few.  My life with God is much better than when I tried to live it on my own.  I find that the closer I get to God, the more I want to know Him.  The more I want to know Him, the more He teaches me.  The more He teaches me, the more I want to understand.  The more understanding He gives me, the more I want to know Him.  The more I know Him, the more I love Him.  I don’t think I will ever understand all that God is up to, but I don’t need to.  All I need is God.  All I know is that the more God I have, the more God I want.  I can never have too much God.  This is truth.  This is the word of Christ dwelling in me richly (Colossians 3:16a).  This is knowing the truth and allowing Christ to set me free (John 8:32). This is Christ in me, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27b).  God makes my life interesting.  He is my heart’s desire.  I can honestly stand with Jeremiah, hand in hand, and say, “The LORD is my portion forever; therefore I will wait for him.”  There is nothing on earth better than God.    While all the study and reading are great for my head and helps increase my faith, it’s no substitute for spending time with my Savior.  Oh, how I love Him.