you overpowered me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed all day long;
everyone mocks me.
8 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.
9 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. Jeremiah20:7-9
While Jeremiah had a ministry that, to all outward appearances, seemed to have failed, we see an intimacy between the prophet and his God that is breath-taking in its honesty.
In the beginning of ch.20 the priest Pashur has Jeremiah beaten (whipped) and then locked up overnight in the stocks. It was life-threatening, painful beyond description and utterly humiliating.
Jeremiah spills his guts to God:
- He tells God that he feels let down, abandoned and betrayed.
- He felt deceived because he wasn't experiencing the respect that prophets usually had from the people.
- He holds God responsible because he believes that God is ultimately in control and that evil can only do what God allows it to.
In Hebrew the words deceived, overpowered and prevailed have a overtone of sexual assault. Jeremiah is, in effect, saying to God "I feel I have been violated." It is a very personal outpouring of frustration and pain and one has a clear sense that God has patiently heard Jeremiah.
The beauty of this passage is that Jeremiah is so close to God that he is able to express his feelings and frustrations to God and that God hears him and comforts him.
The evidence of the comfort, hope and healing Jeremiah receives is in verse 9: "In spite of all that has happened to me - His name and word are like fire in my bones: I can't keep it in!"
Sometimes our lives take disappointing turns. From Jeremiah we learn:
1. It is ok to tell God who we feel.
2. God's goodness and awesomeness can allow us to transcend our circumstances.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@gracepresby.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
