Jeremiah 1: 1-3 (cont’d)
‘’The word of the LORD came to him…’’ (2, 4; and see 9 and 11).
If the ‘’word of the LORD’’ comes to you today (and I pray it does) what will you do with it?
It can be an uncomfortable word; it can be an inconvenient word.
For Jeremiah it meant switching direction – slightly (1, 5b). He was a priest by birth but became a prophet by calling. You may not always do what you’re doing now. God’s Word may come to you like a policeman, stood in the centre of the road, with hand held aloft and finger pointing in another direction. The important thing is to stay open, keep listening and always be willing to know and do the will of God.
Jeremiah received a costly calling. He had to preach an unpopular message that most people did not want to hear. He had to articulate clear and serious warnings and issue the call to repentance. He would give a lifetime to preaching God’s Word with little outward success (if any), and he always knew that’s how it would be. (By some standards of success Jeremiah was not successful. So let’s be careful what measures we use.) Verses 2 and 3 show that Jeremiah persevered through many difficult years. During that time, God’s Word ‘’continued to come to him’’ The Message, but his ‘congregation’ didn’t want it coming to them. These were tough times for the prophet.
‘’Jeremiah’s life was not easy, and his ministry did not appear successful. But he was faithful to the Lord and accomplished God’s will.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.495
‘’Jeremiah lived about sixty years. Across that life span there is no sign of decay or shrivelling. Always he was pushing out the borders of reality, exploring new territory. And always he was vigorous in battle, challenging and contesting the shoddy, the false and the vile.’’ Eugene Peterson.’’
‘’He ministered during the last four decades of Judah’s history as a nation, beginning partway through the reign of the godly King Josiah. Jeremiah supported Josiah in his attempts to reform the nation; but after Josiah’s death, his two sons Jehoiakim and Zedekiah opposed further reforms and withdrew royal support from Jeremiah himself. Jeremiah’s public ministry ended with the fall of Jerusalem…when its remaining citizens were forced into exile by the Babylonians.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p. 1077.
So it was not an easy calling and Jeremiah lived through challenging times. He faced the disappointment of having his preaching rejected. (If you want to read a detailed account of the history of Judah during Jeremiah’s lifetime, look at 2 Chronicles chapters 22-25)
But here’s a final thought for now. If the ‘’word of the LORD’’ comes to you today, will you listen to it? Jeremiah’s hearers wouldn’t and went into ‘’exile’’. That still has its counterpart today. There are ‘prisons’ and dry and barren places where people find themselves if they push God’s Word away.
Prayer: Lord God of truth, help me to hear you speaking and please give me the desire and courage and strength to obey you. I also recognise the wisdom of going your way. My way will take me into captivity. Please save me from myself, I pray.