In our day we have all kinds of folks defending blatant sin even thinking to do so on theological grounds, that is, using the Bible. But what they are really doing is picking and choosing which parts of the Bible are true, and which parts they will ignore or explain away! And to call them out is to be a self-righteous hypocrite and accused, and I actually read this, accused of being anti-Jesus! Fascinating: Say what the Bible says and be called anti-Jesus???
Can you imagine the people in Jeremiah’s day saying, “Oh we love the Lord, we embrace all He has said about the blessings He gives to his people.” What about the curses? Do you believe there are consequences for your sin? Oh no, that is to be a scripture twisting conscience binder!
You get the point. We will learn of Jeremiah’s calling, we will watch as Judah follows in the steps of her sister, Israel, in rebellion and sin and we will find her being taken into exile, reaping what she so brazenly has sown. But the point of the Book is that the Word of the Lord will accomplish all that God has said, it will not return void and there is no human power, no army, nothing even in the spiritual world that can stop it. Let that be your banner and mine; You read, you hear what God has said…no qualifications, no excuses, no pretending…it WILL be accomplished…God’s word WILL prove to be true in all its parts.
Another aspect to all of this, is that the book of Jeremiah, while written to those on the brink of exile and punishment, yet it was also prominent for those IN exile. Jeremiah preaches for about 40 years. They have four decades of warnings rolling over and over again in their minds…40 years of ignoring what God has said and now, 70 years to think about it! And this is not to be seen as Jeremiah saying, “I told you so…” but in tears, we are to hear the weeping prophet saying, “I told you why.” I told you why…are you listening?
The second thing we see is the Lord establishing Jeremiah as His called instrument as we read in verses 4-5. Now, we want to be careful in our applying of this text to our own lives. Jeremiah plays a unique role in redemptive history and his calling is specific to him. It is not too strong to say that his was not a freely chosen path of service, but rather, a participation in a divine purpose for which he was prepared, even when in his mother’s womb. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a clinical, distant calling. The words “I formed you”, speak of God’s personal involvement, it is a word used regularly of a potter shaping a vessel for the potter’s purposes, an image that Jeremiah will use himself in chapter 18.
The Lord says to Jeremiah; I knew you…I have a relationship with you, an intimacy with you, even before you were born! I set you apart…we sometimes translate this, consecrate…I set you apart for myself…I have desired you from the beginning. And Jeremiah would be set apart, set apart from his family, his community, his fellows priests and from kings and even from other prophets. His was a lonely consecration.
And finally, the Lord says, I appointed you…I appointed you, I have a task for you to do. Now, as I mentioned, we want to be careful applying Jeremiah’s situation to our own lives. But we can say many of the same things are true for each of us. The Lord has called each of us to holiness, to being set apart for His purposes…we are not our own, we have been bought at a price. The Lord has known each of us before we were born. He has a purpose for you…it is not to be a prophet, it is probably not to pronounce curse upon the church, but it is for you to glorify Him in your body. It is to live according to His word…all of it…without compromise, without flinching. So…how are you doing?
It is interesting that Jeremiah’s response is to object to God’s plan! Christopher Wright in his wonderful commentary writes: “The whole book is a constant dialogue…Jeremiah argues with the people, the people argue back. God accuses the people; the people question God. Jeremiah argues with God; God responds to Jeremiah sometimes with rebuke, more often with encouragement.”
Jeremiah, at his calling, would have been an inexperienced youth, so we can understand why he might shrink back a bit. Remember, Moses voiced his unwillingness. Isaiah voiced his unworthiness and Jeremiah voiced his immaturity; I am too young, literally, I am a child. I don’t think this is some kind of stubborn refusal or resistance, but a voicing of a real doubt, he had no experience of public speaking, surely someone else would have better credentials! And notice, God does not rebuke Jeremiah, He just dismisses his concern as true, but irrelevant.
The fact that Jeremiah has doubt, is completely understandable. I am not talking about the kind of doubt that disbelieves God and demands God to be and do according to our own wants and desires. Remember when John the Baptist was in prison? Jesus said he was the greatest man who has ever lived and yet, when in prison he sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus, if he was the one or should they expect someone else? John, the greatest man ever, had doubts…things just didn’t line up the way he thought they would or perhaps the way he thought they should. Jesus’ ministry and his preaching of repentance, the same message that John preached, was not accompanied by the pomp and circumstance that one would expect from the King of kings!
Jesus was encountering all kinds of opposition; John was languishing in prison…this just doesn’t look right. And even after Pentecost, sure the gospel is going out in power, but in many, many places the church found herself in the midst of persecution, trial and all kinds of opposition. and even before the close of the apostolic era, the writers of Scripture are warning against false teachers in our midst! All these problems, outside and inside, is this really the way the Kingdom is supposed to go? Is this how Jesus will conquer the world? This just doesn’t make any sense?
And we would have to admit, that in many ways the world does not look as we might expect it to look, nor are our lives falling out as we might expect them to know and believing as we do that the Lord Jesus is on the throne, ruling His world.
What do you suppose is going on in the mind of the Chinese pastor who woke up still in prison. Or the faithful Christian in Sudan who wakes up alone because his wife and children have been murdered by Muslim militia. Or countless others in much more ordinary circumstances whose lives are difficult and endlessly so?
I can remember, years ago, we were coming back from a vacation where our kids swam for 10 hours a day. We stopped at a hotel for the night, all 8 of us crammed in one room and every single child had an ear infection and were in pain and crying out all night. It was like being in a triage center during the Civil War…no relief, only the cries of pain. I can remember begging God to let them sleep, to take away just enough of the discomfort for them to rest…to ease their pain just a little bit…but He didn’t. We have all had those moments that try our faith…that makes us wonder, where is the Lord, why is He doing this?
How many times have you thought that if you were God, you would certainly do things differently. If I were God, I would make more people to be Christians…If I were God I would make sure that Christians were a good deal more holy than they are, so as to give a better witness to the world. If I were God I would make Christians the envy of the world for their happiness, joy and ease of life in this world! Then everyone would want to be a Christian because their lives would be so wonderful! If I were God, I wouldn’t make suffering, trial and pain the key instrument of sanctification, but happiness, health and wealth! I would not allow what God seems to allow, all the time!
Every Christian has these kinds of doubts! Or, even more difficult: Why can’t I surmount this particular sin in my heart and life, why can’t I beat it back when I really do love Jesus and want to be free from it! Why can’t I defeat this sin, why can’t I love my wife as I am called, why can’t I find peace in my loneliness? We have all wondered about such things! And then the Lord asks certain things of us…and we wonder, are you sure? That is where the young Jeremiah finds himself, that is, the doubt he experiences. Lord, me…are you sure?
Some have guessed that Jeremiah was afraid…the text doesn’t say that, but I certainly would have been. But God makes him a promise…it is THE promise. Yes, it is God’s word that Jeremiah will speak but the comfort and assurance comes to the prophet when God tells him, “…I will be with you.” This is everything…Moses told God once in Ex 33 that he, Moses, was not going to take a single step, he wouldn’t move one inch unless the Lord promised to go with him. Remember, Job’s tottering was not so much as to the trials he had to bear, but the fact that he couldn’t find the Lord in the midst of the trial. God’s presence, God’s pleasure…this is everything. And for Jeremiah, who would, as we will see, on many occasions find himself utterly alone but for the presence of Yahweh, nothing could mean more to him.
The Lord says that Jeremiah will have His presence, in order to rescue him, the word means to snatch someone out of danger, it is a word that is used many times to refer to God’s deliverance from Egypt. Jeremiah would need to hear this promise, have it told to him over and over again, for he will be disowned by his family, arrested, beaten and imprisoned, threatened more than once with death, cheated by a relative and have to spend much time in hiding.
And when he is going through all of that, what will the Lord say to him? I am with you. You see that is not just information…it is more than information. It is like saying, I love you. People, mostly men, think that if they say I love you once, that should be enough. Like the husband who tells his wife, I said I love you when we got married…if anything changes I will let you know. But I love you, is not information…I love you, is food…it is nourishment, it is why we tell those we love, over and over again, that indeed, we love them! It feeds their souls.
God saying to Jeremiah, over and over again, I am with you…I am with you…this is not information…this is intimacy, this is assurance…this is hope…this is food. The Lord tells Jeremiah that the Lord will give him words to speak and he shall speak them. Jeremiah is the Lord’s man, and therefore as such, he can and must do only that which the Lord calls him to be and do. And in the end, Jeremiah takes that mantle, that burden upon himself, and he does so because he is the Lord’s and as the Lord’s, through all the questions, doubts, hardships, stumbles and uncertainty…to whom shall we go? This was Jeremiah’s life, but brothers and sisters, in so many ways, is this not our life as well?
Prayer: Father, Your presence is my assurance, Your Word my trust and Your promises my hope. May I live in the joy of these Your gifts and walk in the light as You are in the light. Nourish my soul and life that I might do Your will and show forth Your life in mine, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Song: The Song of Jeremiah
